I'm sorry
by pikapikatchu
Summary: Julian visits Greg at home. What does he want and how does Greg feel about that?
1. Chapter 1

Another Story of mine! I hope you still enjoy the stuff I'm writing! :) Please write a review and let me know!

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><p>Greg just arrived at home after a double shift. He was exhausted. The case he just closed was pretty intense and he's been up way too long, his feet could barely walk him into the bedroom. Sitting down on the bed, slowly getting out of his shoes, he heard a knock on the door.<p>

"...What now?" he mumbled annoyed to himself.

When he opened the door, he was surprised to see Julian.

"Hey Greg..." he said with a sad voice.

"Julian. What are you doing here?" When Greg noticed Julian had been crying, he changed his annoyed tone to a caring. "What's wrong?"

"Can I come in?" Julian sobbed.

"Sure," Greg replied, not thinking about how tired he was right now. "Do you want something to drink?"

Julian nodded.

While Greg went into the kitchen to get a bottle of water, Julian sat down on an armchair next to the couch.

Greg put the bottle on the coffee table in front of Julian and sat down on the couch. "Are you alright?"

Julian nodded again. "He broke up with me..."

"Who?"

Two weeks ago, Greg told Julian he was not gay, but Julian didn't really seem to want to believe that. Greg didn't know that Julian had been dating ever since.

"Vince," Julian sobbed. "He was always talking about moving in with me... and now... he broke up with me!"

Greg was confused. Did Julian have a boyfriend all the time he was hitting on him? "...For how long have you two been dating?"

"12 days."

"You wanted to move in with this guy after two weeks?"

Julian shrugged. "When it works, you just know it. Deep inside I knew he was the one..."

"Oh come on, Julian. Two weeks. That's not enough time to even get to know that person. It's not the end of the world, you'll find someone else."

"You think so?" Julian looked up to Greg.

Greg nodded. "Sure. Just forget about this guy, you deserve better."

"Thank you..." Julian stood up, sat down next to Greg on the couch and hugged him.

Greg still wasn't feeling too comfortable with men being physically close to him, but he was able to control his feelings now. So he just sat through the uncomfortably long hug and waited for Julian to let go of him.

Julian finally loosened the hug a bit but still had his arms around Greg. They were now face to face, with Julian having a smile on his face and Greg looking a bit confused.

"You know, you have quite a nice apartment..." Julian said before he kissed Greg while pushing him down on the couch, lying on top of him.

Greg, almost in panic, tried to push Julian away, but it only caused Julian to use more force to pin him down.

Julian finally stopped kissing Greg.

"What the hell are you doing? Get off of me!" Greg yelled.

Julian sat up. "I'm sorry, I thought you wanted it, too..."

Greg quickly jumped off the couch. "What the hell made you think that?"

Julian propped his arms on his knees and buried his face in his hands. "I'm sorry, I... I just feel so vulnerable after Vince left me and I... I just needed solace..."

"What made you think you'd find it here? Why didn't you go to one of your friends?"

Julian looked up to Greg with a shocked face. "But... We are friends!"

"No, Julian. We're not. We're colleagues."

This hit Julian hard. He thought he and Greg were friends. He didn't get all the hints pointing at the fact that Greg didn't even like him. Even all the arguments and fights they had didn't make him think he didn't like him. Julian didn't always like Greg, but he thought Greg always liked him.

Greg went over to the door and opened it.

Julian walked towards Greg. "I'm really sorry..."

When Julian left, Greg sat down on his bed again. He just now realized that he was shaking. He was still tired and only wanted to sleep, but he knew that this night would be a rather sleepless one.


	2. Chapter 2

After these long, sleepless hours, Greg was back in the lab. He didn't really digest what happened with Julian at his apartment yet and he was dreading the thought of seeing him now in the lab. How should he behave around him? Act like nothing happened? And how would Julian behave?

Greg actually felt sorry for what he said to him. He didn't even really mean it. Sure, he didn't consider Julian to be a friend of his, and he annoyed him most of the time, but he was a nice guy. Well, actually he only was a nice guy when he wanted something from someone or when he considered someone to be his friend. But still, Greg thought, he didn't deserve to be treated the way he treated him. Or did he? He wasn't sure.

Maybe he could make it through shift without running into Julian, he thought.

Sitting down in the break room, he waited for the others to join him. They usually started their shifts here, waiting for Catherine assigning them to a case. But right now, no one was here, which made him anxious. Julian could walk in any minute now. With his colleagues around, the situation probably wouldn't be that bad. But alone with him could be awkward, he thought.

And right on cue, there he was. Julian walked in. "Hey Greg," he said while walking towards the coffee machine. "You want a cup, too?"

Greg shook his head, looking a bit astonished. "I'm good."

He was surprised that Julian was able to act perfectly normal around him, as if nothing had happened.

He even sat down on his regular chair, right next to where Greg was sitting. Greg wasn't sure what to think of it.

Julian took a sip, put the cup down on the table and turned to Greg. "Listen... I just wanted to apologize again for what happened... Please don't tell anyone, okay?"

"...Sure..." was all Greg could reply. He didn't really expect Julian to say anything about this incident and wasn't prepared for this, so he didn't know what else to say. It didn't really make the situation any less awkward for him, though.

A few minutes later, Nick and Ray joined them.

When Nick saw Greg and Julian sitting next to each other and Greg's uncomfortable look on his face, he couldn't help but smile. He had no idea what happened between them and just figured it was the usual – Julian flirting with Greg. "Hey guys," he said amused.

"Nicky. You and Greg got a 419 in Henderson." Catherine walked into the break room looking a bit stressed out. She quickly handed Nick a piece of paper with the address. "Ray, follow me," she instructed while walking out.

* * *

><p>"You two were sitting real close together. He still doesn't get it, huh?" Nick laughed while driving to the crime scene.<p>

Greg didn't say anything, just faked a smile without looking at Nick.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing..." He still didn't look at Nick.

"Come on, I'm just teasing you!" Not getting any reaction from Greg, he continued, "Alright, I took it too far. I'm sorry." He reached his hand out to pat Greg on the shoulder.

When he did, Greg winced.

"...What was that?" Nick asked confused.

"What was what?" Greg asked insecure.

"You just winced when I touched you."

"I was just taken by surprise."

Nick pulled the car over.

"What are you doing, Nick?"

He turned to face Greg. "You looked at me when I touched you, it didn't surprise you. What's going on?"

Greg sighed. He told Nick everything, starting with when the fear first showed up again to what happened between him and Julian yesterday.

Nick didn't say anything. He just started the car and turned it around.

"Where are you going?" Greg asked confused and nervous.

"I'm gonna tell him to stay away from you, once and for all!" Nick replied furious.

"What? No! Turn around, we need to get to our crime scene!"

"I need to do this first! Why didn't you tell me earlier? I'll kick his annoying ass!"

"No! Nick! Turn around! He asked me not to say anything to anyone, he must not know that I told you!"

"What? Are you out of your mind? Why should you care about him?"

"Because! Nothing happened. He was depressed and confused and misjudged the situation. It's okay!"

"No. No, it's NOT okay! He crossed a line, Greg! He should be glad he won't get fired for this! You feel that way because of him!"

"It's not his fault, you know that! And now turn around! I don't want your help!"

Stopping at a red light, Nick calmed down a bit. "Why not? I could solve that problem in five minutes."

"I can take care of myself! I already dealt with it. He apologized. It's okay, he won't try anything again."

"But..."

Nick was interrupted by Greg. "Please. I need to do this alone."

The look on Greg's face made Nick realize how important it was for him to deal with this situation on his own. He still thought that someone should put Julian in his place. Greg thought so, too, but he was in no condition to do so at the moment. Right now he felt too powerless and insecure to really face Julian. He just wanted this to go away as quick as possible.

Without saying a word, Nick turned the car around and drove to the crime scene.

* * *

><p>Nick stopped the car. They finally arrived at the crime scene.<p>

Before Greg got out of the car, Nick turned to him. "Just say a word and I kick his ass, alright?"

Greg rolled his eyes and smiled. "Thanks, but that's not necessary. We're not in school anymore."

Nick got out of the car. "You want me to believe you beat up kids in school?" he asked amused.

* * *

><p>Walking into an apartment, they met David standing next to a bed.<p>

A young woman's dead body was lying in the bed, almost looking as if she was sleeping, despite all of the blood on the bed.

"What do we got here, David?" Greg asked while walking up to him.

"Charlene Thompson, age 32. Apparent suicide. Her husband found her like this and two empty bottles of sleeping pills sitting on the nightstand."

Nick went over to the nightstand and picked the bottles up. "She took all of these pills AND slit her wrists?"

David nodded. "And the husband touched the pill bottles, just so you know."

"Thanks. Did she bleed out?"

"I think so. Looks like she wanted to make sure she really died."

"Did you find a note?" Greg asked while taking a look around the room.

"I didn't see one."

* * *

><p>Nick and Greg were walking down the lab's hallway with the bagged evidence in their hands.<p>

"Could you bring this to Hodges? I'll take care of the DNA samples," Nick said while handing Greg the bags he was carrying and taking the ones he had in his hands.

"Wait," Greg said, "You're not doing this so you can talk to Julian about what happened, right?"

Nick stopped and looked at Greg. He didn't say anything, but he made clear what the answer to that question was with his look.

"I told you not to! Come on, it's taken care of, forget it ever happened," Greg said, trying to convince Nick to let it go.

"I can't. I won't be able to think about anything else when I see Julian until I talked to him about it."

"Please, Nick. It would embarrass me if Julian knew that I told you!"

"Why? You really shouldn't care about his feelings, you know."

"I don't. It's not about him, it's about me. Now come on, promise you won't say anything?"

Nick rolled his eyes. He was reluctant to do so, but he didn't want to do anything Greg didn't want him to. "Alright, I promise. But I'm still taking care of this DNA evidence, I'm sure you don't want to see him now, anyways."

"I'll have to see him again sooner or later, anyway... But thanks..." Greg smiled and walked away.


	3. Chapter 3

"Julian." Nick went into the lab. "I need the results quick." He tossed the evidence bag to Julian.

"I'm on it..." he replied while reading in a magazine.

"...Now would be a good time to start processing it," Nick said impatient.

"Mhm."

This kind of behavior was typical for Julian and usually, Nick would leave annoyed and wait for Julian to finally start doing his job. But this time wasn't usual. In Nick's mind, Julian molested Greg and now acted as if nothing happened. And there was nothing he could do about it right now. He promised Greg not to say anything. As much as he wanted to, he didn't.

"Just try to get it ready someday..." he said irritated and left.

* * *

><p>"What kind of glass?"<p>

"From a car window," Hodges answered to Greg.

"How did glass from a car window end up in our suicide victim's hair?" Greg asked while looking at the glass through a microscope.

"Does she have any injuries that suggest she's been in a car accident?"

"I didn't see any injuries despite the ones she inflicted on herself," Nick said while walking towards his two colleagues.

"Well there are not too many possibilities how the glass ended up there, right?" Hodges sat down.

"Maybe David can help us with that. Come on, Greg." Nick walked out, followed by Greg.

* * *

><p>On their way to the morgue, Greg decided to ask Nick about Julian. "So... How's he doing?"<p>

"Hm? Who? You mean Julian?"

He nodded.

"Why are you asking? How should he be doing? He acts like nothing happened."He murmured to himself, "Ignorant bastard..."

"Good..."

"Good? How's that good?"

Greg shrugged. "It's just... I reacted badly when, you know... And I kind of feel guilty for it."

"YOU feel guilty? For what? You didn't do anything wrong."

Greg sighed. "I kind of left something out when I told you..."

"...I have to kill him, right?"

"It's something I did, Nick."

They both sat down on a bench a few feet away from the morgue.

"I told him we're not friends and I think it hit him really hard."

"So?" Nick looked at Greg confused. "You're not friends, why is it bad that you told him?"

"When he needed comfort, I was really harsh. He might be annoying at times, but he doesn't deserve that."

"Well that's understandable, given the circumstances. What did he expect?"

"Probably not to be treated like that." Greg gave Nick an insecure smile.

"Greg, it's not..."

"No," he interrupted Nick, "Don't try to sugarcoat it. I was the jerk. Julian was just looking for a shoulder to cry on and I kicked him out."

"But..."

"I know what you're trying to say. It's normal to act like that in my position, but that doesn't make it right, does it?" Greg stood up. "Let's get this over with, I want to apologize to Julian afterwards."

* * *

><p>"Hey Doc." They entered the morgue. Doc Robbins was already waiting for them.<p>

"There you are." He picked up the report. "I just finished. Official COD is suicide. She took sleeping pills, cut her wrists open and bleed out."

"Any signs of a recent car accident?" Nick asked while looking at the body.

"No, none at all. Why?"

"We found car glass in her hair and can't explain it yet. Anything else?"

"The husband said he found her at midnight, right? She died a few hours before that. There was sexual activity a few hours before her death and it was consensual. I sent a sample to DNA."

"I think I heard the husband say he didn't see her the whole day..." Nick said.

"Technically this case is closed, though."

"Yeah but something about this case just doesn't sit right with me, I want to find out what really happened..."

* * *

><p>"You're sure you want to do this now?" Nick was walking towards the DNA lab with Greg.<p>

"Nicky, you're totally overreacting. Thinking back at it, there was no need to blow this up like I did. I need to apologize to him and hope everything will get back to normal again."

"Alright... I'll wait outside if you need me."

"No you won't," Greg said with a smile on his face, "It'll only take a minute. You can wait in the car for me."

While Greg appreciated Nick taking care of him like a big brother, he could be too overprotective at times. This was one of those times. Mentally Greg had already processed what happened between him and Julian, but emotionally he didn't, despite what he just told Nick. He just didn't want him to worry too much. But he knew he was overreacting and blowing this all out of proportion. He felt bad about what he said to Julian and figured apologizing would make him feel better.

* * *

><p>"Hey Julian." Greg went into the lab really nervous.<p>

"I got your results ready. Here they are..." He handed him his reports.

"Thanks, but that's actually not why I'm here..."

Julian looked up, looking both surprised and concerned. "...Did you tell Catherine?"

"What? No! It's okay. I mean, I... I wanted to apologize... for... how I reacted."

"I don't know what you're talking about..." Julian said while processing some DNA samples.

"I didn't mean it when I said we weren't friends and all... I was just agitated and confused and... surprised, you know? It's not your fault and I'm really sorry for the way I reacted." It wasn't easy for Greg to say this, but it felt good that he did.

Julian put the samples he was working on down and stood up. "Thank you, Greg. That really means a lot to me." He smiled and gently touched Greg's arm. "So... We ARE friends?"

Greg wasn't sure how to answer. He actually didn't consider them to be friends but wanted Julian to feel better. And wanted to feel better himself, so he just lied. "Yeah, of course..."

Julian hugged Greg. "That's great!"

The hug didn't feel comfortable at all, it actually scared Greg a bit, but he wanted to repress these kind of feelings and thought he'd be okay in the lab, Julian wouldn't try anything ever again, anyway, but surely not in the lab.

Julian let go of Greg and smiled at him again.

Greg had an uncomfortable smile on his face and went out.

* * *

><p>"Just a few seconds longer and I would've gone in there!" Nick said with a grin on his face. He was standing near the DNA lab the whole time, watching Greg and Julian.<p>

"Why are you not in the car? God, you're so nosy!" Greg said jokingly, walking to the exit door.

"I'm just looking out for you, you should appreciate it!" When Greg gave Nick a look, he continued, "Okay, I'm also nosy. But it's mostly the looking out thing that got me waiting in front of the DNA lab!"

"You know... I really do appreciate it," Greg said with a smile on his face.

Nick smiled back and patted him on the bag. When he remembered that Greg probably didn't want that, he apologized for it. "I'm sorry, I keep forgetting..."

"No, it's okay." He didn't mind Nick touching him. For the first time in weeks – probably months – he didn't feel unease when one of his male friends came physically close to him.


	4. Chapter 4

"Mr. Thompson, we'd like to ask you a few questions about your wife's suicide..." Nick said with a compassionate look on his face.

"Come on in," he said while opening the door for Nick and Greg. He lead them to the kitchen and offered them a seat.

"What do you want to know about it? She killed herself, end of story." The husband seemed rather cold.

"Mr. Thompson, there are a few open questions we like to find an answer to," Nick replied. "We found car window glass in her hair. Did she have a car accident on the day she died?"

He shook his head. "No, I don't think so."

"Can we take a look at her car?"

"...Sure, why not..."

* * *

><p>While Greg was taking a look at the car, Nick continued talking with the husband. "Can you tell me how you found her?"<p>

Mr. Thompson kept watching Greg processing the car all the time he was talking to Nick. Occasionally he would look at Nick, but most of the time he had his eyes on Greg. "I told the officer already. When I came home, I saw her lying on the bed. That's it."

"You also told the officer you touched the pill bottle. Why?"

"Did your wife commit suicide and you found her? Probably not, right? I don't know why I did it, I was in shock. I saw the pill bottle and wanted to see how many she took, but all three bottles were empty."

"Three? We only found two bottles."

"Two. Yeah, I mean two."

"Mr. Thompson, it's important you tell us the truth. Did you take one of the bottles?"

"I just said I mean two. What do you want from me, anyway? And what's taking so long? How long does it take to see that this car wasn't in an accident?" he yelled aggressively towards Greg.

"Mr. Thompson, please calm down. We understand you're upset, but we're just trying to do our job," Nick said, trying to calm him down.

"Nick, could you take a look at this?" Greg said from the car.

Nick walked up to him. "You found something?"

"The window on the passenger side was smashed. You see these little glass fragments on the floor and the seat?"

Nick nodded. "But no sign for an accident, right?"

"No, I think someone smashed the window from the outside."

They both looked to where the husband was standing to find he was gone.

"...Where did he go?"

* * *

><p>"Mr. Thompson?" Nick went back into the house to see where he went but he was nowhere to be seen. He searched every room for him and didn't find him, so he went back into the garage.<p>

Greg was walking towards the door when Nick entered.

"I couldn't find him..." Nick said, "...Where's the car?"

"There's no one with more bad luck than me..." Greg said with a frown on his face.

"What do you mean?" Nick asked confused.

Greg sighed. "While you were inside looking for him, he came back... With a shotgun in his hands, demanding my camera. He drove off with the car!"

"Oh my god, are you okay?" Nick asked worried.

He nodded. "He took the evidence! We don't even have pictures of the car now!"

"Let's just be glad you're alright. I'll call it in."

"I already did..." Greg said annoyed and disappointed, "What are we gonna do now? I'm sure there's something important about this car, or else he wouldn't have taken it!"

"Calm down, Greg. We'll figure this case out, with or without the car. Maybe they'll find him. He can't be that far!"


	5. Chapter 5

Nick and Greg walked into the break room. Greg sat down at the table while Nick was fixing them both a cup of coffee.

"Don't take this too hard," Nick said while handing him the cup.

"You know... Maybe I should take my gun with me more often," Greg said while taking a sip from the coffee.

"Do you think it will make you feel safer?"

"Probably not. I mean, I don't ever want to use it, but I feel like... I don't know."

"Like what?"

"Like a danger magnet," he laughed.

Nick laughed, too, but put a straight face on right away. "Well, when you carry your gun you must be ready to use it when you have to, otherwise you'll be dangerous..."

"You know, that's not the answer I was looking for," Greg said with a smile.

"I know. But I can't make that decision for you."

Hodges and Julian entered the room.

"Guys, there you are!" Hodges said with files in his hands.

"Good news, please?" Nick said with a frown.

"Well, sort of... No, not really... Well, not bad news, at least." Hodges handed Nick the files. "You victim had two different kinds of sleeping pills in her system, but you only found two bottles from the same pills, right?"

Nick nodded. "But the husband said something about picking up three bottles. Maybe the third one was a different kind."

"But why would he hide it from us?" Greg asked.

"I wish we could ask him that."

"Well, while you two were busy letting him leave the country," Hodges teased, "I contacted their doctor and was able to find out that one of the pills she took, diazepam, was prescribed to the husband."

"Really?" Nick said surprised. "She took his pills, that's why he hid the bottle."

"Or maybe he gave her the pills," Greg concluded. "Why else would he run away?"

"But it still doesn't explain why he threatened you with a gun to get the car. I mean, he was already gone, he could've easily left with his car, it was standing outside. Why go back to the garage? He wanted HER car."

"He did WHAT?" Julian said shocked. "He threatened you with a gun?"

Greg raised an eyebrow. "Yeah... why?"

"I..." Julian looked concerned. "I'm just glad you're okay..." He smiled and left.

"Huh. I thought he knew," Hodges said with a confused smile on his face. "Anywho, Al wants to see you two down in autopsy."

* * *

><p>"You wanted to see us, Doc?" Nick asked while entering the autopsy room.<p>

Charlene Thompson was lying on the table again.

"Weren't you already done with her?" Greg asked surprised.

"I was, but then David noticed something... Follow me." Doc Robbins walked over to the body. "It wasn't visible a few hours ago, but now..."

"Bruises around her mouth."

Doc Robbins nodded. "Looks like a hand, doesn't it?"

"So you're saying someone forced the pills down her throat?" Greg asked.

"It's possible. It was a good idea to dig deeper into that case, Nick."

Greg's cell phone was ringing. "Excuse me." He went out to take the call and came back a minute later. "They found the car!"

* * *

><p>"Teenagers saw a white male pushing a car into the water..." Brass said while walking Nick and Greg to the car. "Called it in, and here we are now."<p>

Greg took his flash light out. "Great, all the evidence is probably washed away..."

"Not ALL evidence. Don't worry."

Nick and Greg looked at Brass confused as he opened the trunk.

"Is that enough evidence to satisfy you two?"

Nick nodded with an uncomfortable look on his face. "That should keep us busy."

* * *

><p>"Long time no see, Doc," Nick said sarcastically.<p>

The Doc smiled. "This guy died from a blunt force trauma to the head. I already sent the glass fragments I found in the wound up to Hodges, but I guess we already know where they come from, right?"

"He went through the car window with his head?"

"I think so."

"But who is he?"

"DNA samples are already in the lab, hopefully they can answer that question."

"When did he die?"

"A few hours before Mrs. Thompson. That's all I can tell you yet."

* * *

><p>"You're sure you want to do that, Greg?"<p>

"Of course, why not? Everything's fine!" Greg patted Nick on the chest as he walked past him to the DNA lab.

"Hey Julian, we need the identity of our John Doe. Are you done yet?"

When he saw Greg walking in, Julian jumped out his seat nervously. "Greg, hi! Uhm yeah... I... I uh... It's here somewhere." He searched for the report nervously.

"Is everything alright? You look a bit stressed out."

"No, everything's good, why?"

"Because I've never seen you like that... all hectic and busy and... stuff." They usually found Julian sleeping, reading, eating, well, everything but working when they entered the lab. Seeing him a bit stressed was something they didn't usually see.

Julian laughed. "I'm not hectic, Greg..." He finally found the report and handed it to him. "There you go."

"Thanks..." Greg opened the file. "Oh, the case is starting to make sense... John Doe's DNA is a match to the semen we found... Him and Mrs. Thompson probably had an affair... Maybe the husband found out about it and just lost it..."

"Well I think nothing hurts as much as fearing to lose the person you love the most... Makes you do crazy stuff, I guess..." Julian said, looking a bit lost in his thoughts.

"...Yeah... But it doesn't excuse murder." After a short, awkward pause, Greg went out, not knowing Julian was actually talking about him. "Well, thanks, anyways."


	6. Chapter 6

Greg joined Nick and Hodges in the trace lab. "Our John Doe had sex with Mrs. Thompson before she died."

"We have a motive, that's good. The glass is from the car window, but that's no surprise," Nick said with a smile on his face.

"But why would Mr. Thompson kill John Doe, put him in the trunk, drive home, kill his wife, calls 911 and keeps the car in the garage while dozens of police officers come into his home? Why didn't he get rid of the body? He had plenty of time."

"Maybe he hoped you wouldn't find the body? After all you didn't. If Nick didn't have a hunch, we'd still not know about this," Hodges said, joining the conversation.

"The question is, where is Mr. Thompson hiding?"

"No," Hodges said, "The question is... Why is Julian watching us?"

Nick and Greg turned around to look at him, but Julian quickly turned away, acting as if he wasn't watching them.

"...He probably would like to talk about this case, too..." Greg said insecure, hoping Hodges would believe it.

"Why? He never cared about the outcome of a case."

Nick kept looking at Julian. "Maybe I should go talk to him."

"Nick, I asked you not to..." Greg whispered to him.

"What's going on?" Hodges asked confused.

"Nothing, we need to go." Greg grabbed Nick's arm and walked him out the lab into a layout room.

* * *

><p>"Nick, I told you to give it a rest! I told him I'm not gay and he won't bother me anymore!"<p>

Nick rolled his eyes. "Yeah, great, he's not bothering you anymore, now he's stalking you!"

"Oh please, don't blow this out of proportion! He was just looking in our direction, we don't even know if he actually looked at us!"

"Since when are you so naïve? He was not just looking at you, he was STARING at you!"

"So what? Give him some time, he'll get over it!"

"Let me talk to him! Just five minutes and he'll leave you alone for good!"

"Come on, Nick! I see him almost every day, I don't want him to feel uncomfortable around me because YOU want to yell at him." Greg sat down at the table.

"I don't WANT to yell at him. I just want to tell him that there are boundaries he needs to respect."

"Don't you think he knows that? It's fine, really. He just had a crush, but it's over. Promise me AGAIN you won't say anything to him!"

Nick, again, rolled his eyes. "I promise I won't say anything to him... IF he stops staring at you."

Greg rolled his eyes. "Fair enough... Now come on, let's get home."

* * *

><p>Right now, there was nothing for Greg and Nick to do but to wait for the police to find Mr. Thompson. All the evidence was done processing or being processed right now, so they were able to go home after an eight hour shift. After pulling a lot of double shifts, it was nice to have some free time on their hands, so Greg decided to do some grocery shopping, go home and enjoy the free time.<p>

After he was done with the shopping, he drove home, not noticing that he was being followed.

He walked up to his apartment, opened the door, put the keys on a side table and put the groceries into the kitchen. He turned on the playstation and sat down on the couch, starting to play a video game. After playing for a few minutes, his cell phone rang.

"Hey Nick. Yeah. Mhm, sure. One hour? Great, see you later!"

When he put the cell phone on the coffee table, he heard a knock on the door and got up to see who it was.

"Julian?" he said rather surprised.

"Hey Greg. I need to talk to you, can I come in?"

"Uhm... I don't know, Julian... I don't think that's a good idea..." Greg felt really stupid refusing to let Julian in, but he had a bad feeling about it.

"Please, it's important! I'll just need a minute!" Julian pushed the door open, shoved Greg back inside and walked in, letting the door shut behind him.

"Julian, what the hell?" Greg said both angry and scared. What was Julian up to? "Stay here." Greg walked over to his cell phone and picked it up.

"What are you doing?" Julian walked over to him.

"Depends on why you're here," Greg said, trying to look confident. But his fear was quite noticeable.

"Are you scared of me? I just want to talk to you! You said we were friends, then why can't I come in?"

"Alright, what is it you want to talk about?" Greg offered Julian to sit down, but kept standing himself.

A longer monologue about Julian worrying about Greg when he's out in the field followed. Greg didn't know what to say, so he just let Julian do the talking.

"You know, when I heard that someone threatened you with a gun... I was furious! I was scared, worried and furious! What if something happens to you?" Julian frowned.

"Well, I... Since when do you care? You didn't seem to care the last times my life was in danger, why now?"

"Because we're friends now!" Julian said as if it wasn't weird that he didn't care about a colleague from work when he almost died, but cared so much now that they were friends.

Greg sighed. "We all do our best not to get into dangerous situations, but it happens from time to time. There's nothing I can do about."

"You could get back to working in the lab again!"

"What?" Greg laughed, but stopped when he saw Julian's serious face. "Well, first of all, I don't want to. I like being a CSI. And second, working in the lab doesn't guarantee me that I won't get hurt. Didn't they tell you about the one time I almost died in an explosion at the lab?"

When he saw Julian's face he knew it was a bad idea to tell him about it.

"Oh my god, that's horrible!" Julian was fighting back tears.

"What's going on with you? You're really creeping me out... Listen. I'll be fine. Don't worry, okay?" Greg gave him a sincere smile. Despite the fact that Julian was a creep in general, Greg thought it was kind of sweet that he cared so much about him. He hoped it wasn't because he had a crush on him, but because he really cared about the friendship Julian thought they had.

Julian smiled and walked over to Greg, causing him to back up a bit.

Noticing Greg's rather winced face impression, Julian said, "Please don't be scared..." and walked up close enough to hug Greg.

"Julian..."

"Yeah?" he said while still hugging Greg.

"Please let go off me and leave now, okay?"

"Mhm." Julian nodded but didn't do it.

"Julian, come on!" Greg pushed him away.

At the same moment, Nick came in. "Greg? Is everything okay? Your door was open..." When he saw Greg trying to get out of Julian's embrace, his concerned face impression quickly turned into an angry one. "What's going on?"

Julian finally let go of Greg. "Oh, Nick, hi. What are you doing here?"

"What' I'M doing here?"

"Nick..." Greg shook his head, trying to intervene. "Julian was just on his way out..."

Julian looked at his watch. "Well, what are you guys up to? I could stay for another hour or so..."

Seeing Nick's reaction, Greg quickly said, "I'm sorry, but... We kind of need to be alone right now..."

"I don't know, Greg. Maybe he could stay and explain to me what the hell he's doing here..." Nick said with a sarcastic grin on his face.

Julian raised an eyebrow. "Maybe I'll come by another time."

"Yeah well, maybe not." Nick was looking at Julian aggressively.

"Okay, Julian, drive home safe..." Greg lead Julian out, but Julian stopped in the doorway, turning around to face him and talk to him.

While he was talking to him, Greg nervously glanced to Nick every now and then, trying to rush Julian out the door.

When he finally made it, he closed the door and walked up to Nick. "Was that necessary?"

"What? I was just trying to help you!"

Greg sat down on the couch and sighed. "I didn't need your help. Everything was fine."

"Stop saying that. Nothing's fine! He keeps showing up here, what's this about?" Nick sat down as well.

"He's just trying to be a good friend... He got the message, don't worry."

"Yeah, that was a VERY friendly hug there..."

"Shut up!" Greg said with a smile on his face, playfully throwing a pillow at Nick.


	7. Chapter 7

The next shift had arrived and Nick and Greg were sitting in the break room, waiting for Catherine to assign them to a new case. Or for a new lead in their old case, whichever came first.

They were sitting next to each other, talking, laughing, having fun, when Julian came in.

"Hello guys... Did you have a nice day yesterday?" he said with a weird voice and look on his face.

"Yeah..." Nick said with a rather sardonic smile. "We had a good time."

"So what'd you do?"

"Something called 'None of your business'", he replied.

Greg gave Nick a look. "We were just hanging out, playing some video games, that kind of stuff, you know."

Julian looked at the two. "Yeah... I guess it's that kind of thing you can't do when there's three people, right?"

"No, we just..." Greg was interrupted by Nick.

"Yes, exactly."

Again, Nick received a look from Greg. At the same moment, Catherine entered, wondering what was going on between them.

"Greg, Nick, we found out that Charlene Thompson had a sister. She lives in Sunrise Manor, maybe she can tell you where the husband could be hiding. You have to go on your own, though, all the detectives are busy."

They both nodded. "That's okay."

* * *

><p>"You're carrying your gun today?" Nick asked Greg surprised. "We only want to TALK to the sister, Greg," Nick said teasing.<p>

"Well I thought I should take it with me more often, and by carrying it with me when I know I won't need it is my way of getting used to it, you know?"

Nick just looked at Greg.

"Stupid idea?"

"Yeah, kinda," Nick said smiling.

They knocked on the sister's door. Her name was Mira Smith and she's already been informed about her sister's death.

A rather distraught looking woman opened the door. "What do you want?"

Nick was surprised to see her like that, although he was aware that she already knew her sister had died. "Mrs. Smith, I'm Nick Stokes, this is Greg Sanders, we're with the crime lab. We're very sorry for your loss... But we'd like to ask you a few questions."

"I don't know anything about it..." She said, ready to close the door.

"Please, Mrs. Smith. Your brother-in-law is missing. Do you have any idea where he might be?"

She shook her head and started to cry, whispering, "Leave."

"You could also come down to the station with us, we could drive you there. We just really need to talk to you..."

Reluctantly she said, "Come in...", opening the door for them to enter.

When they came in, the first thing they saw was the end of a shot gun pointing at them. They immediately stopped, looking scared and confused.

"What's... going on here?" Nick asked, raising his hands. Greg did so as well.

"What do you want?" the man with the shotgun said, looking desperate.

"Take it easy... Who are you?" Nick said with a calm voice.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" the man yelled.

Greg recognized shotgun. It was the same that Mr. Thompson had in his hands when he drove off with his wife's car. "We're from the crime lab, we're here to investigate in the murder of Charlene Thompson..."

"Murder?" the man asked a bit more calm.

"We believe she was murdered by her husband."

"...You think he did it?" the man now looked a bit relieved.

Greg nodded. "Where is he?"

The man now looked surprised. "How...? He's in the living room..."

Nick looked confused. He didn't know what was going on.

"Sir, I want to go in and take a look, alright? Would you stay here with Mr. Stokes?"

"What's going on, Greg...?" Nick whispered to him.

The man nodded, slowly putting his shotgun down.

"Would you hand me the gun first?" Greg asked, reaching out his hand slowly.

"Okay... okay..." the man sighed and handed him the gun.

Greg took the shotgun shells out and handed Nick the gun. "I'll just take a sec..." He walked into the living room with his gun drawn, leaving Nick confused with Mrs. Smith and the man Greg just disarmed.

They could hear Greg talking in the living room, but couldn't understand it.

Nick was dying to join Greg in the living room, see what's going on and check if he was alright, but he had to stay with the two.

After what felt like hours, but was only a minute, Greg still wasn't back and Nick got nervous. "Greg, are you alright?"

"It's okay, Nick, I called for backup and an ambulance, we just have to wait for them!" Greg said from the living room.

"An ambulance? What's going on here?" Nick was getting nervous. He couldn't see what Greg was doing, why didn't he just come back and wait for backup here with him?

After a few minutes, backup and the ambulance arrived. Nick asked the arriving officers to stay with Mrs. Smith and the man and went into the living room, followed by the paramedics.

He found Greg applying pressure to someone's gunshot wound. Getting closer to him, Nick realized it was Mr. Thompson who was lying on the couch wounded, and Greg trying to stop the bleeding.

The paramedics rushed to Greg to take over from him and started treating Mr. Thompson.

"Greg!" Nick went over to him. "Could you FINALLY tell me what the hell is going on?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't think it was a good idea to talk about it in front of him." Greg looked at the man who threatened them with the shotgun. "I knew Mr. Thompson would be here, it was his shotgun. I figured he wanted to hide at his sister-in-law's. Things probably got out of hand when they realized he killed his wife and the man shot him, hopefully in self defense..."

Nick sighed. "Jesus, Greg, you really scared me!"

"I'm sorry." He smiled.

* * *

><p>"I think I have to ban you from the field!" Catherine said jokingly while welcoming Nick and Greg with a hug.<p>

"We solved the case, caught the bad guy and had a little action while doing it, same as usual!" Nick said with a smile on his face.

"I can't worry about you all the time, guys," Catherine said laughing.

"We'll make it up to you! Drinks, on us!"

* * *

><p>Greg and Nick went into the DNA lab laughing and joking. They felt good about today, they were able to finally catch Mr. Thompson. He was brought into the hospital and the doctors said he'd make a full recovery. The shooter – it turned out he was Mrs. Smith's husband – won't be charged for attempted murder or aggravated battery since he obviously acted in self defense. The CSIs had to prove that, but knew they would be able to. All in all the case was a success.<p>

Looking forward to celebrate it with their colleagues, they wanted to drop off some evidence they collected in Mira Smith's house and from Mr. Thompson at the hospital.

"Hey Julian, we need that processed." Nick put the evidence bag on the table Julian was sitting at.

Julian stood up and walked over to Greg. "Thank GOD you're okay!" He hugged him.

The hug came as a surprise for both Nick and Greg.

While still being hugged, Greg patted Julian on the back and gently got out of his tight embrace. "Thanks... But we weren't really in any danger..." he said sheepishly.

"Archie said someone threatened you with a shotgun! How's that not dangerous?" Julian said indignant.

"Because the guy never wanted to hurt us. It's fine, really."

"Hey guys, we leave in five!" as quickly as Hodges showed up in the lab to tell them, as quick was he gone already.

"Where are you going with Hodges?" Julian said interested.

Nick and Greg looked at each other a little helpless.

"Uhm... Nowhere, we just... we're giving him a ride home..." Greg said insecure.

Another DNA technician walked in. "Hey Julian, sorry I'm late, but you can go home now."

"Great! Could you guys give me a ride home, too? I came with the bus today and my home is on the way to Hodges', it wouldn't be a detour." Julian asked with a smile on his face.

Nick rolled his eyes. "Sure... Get ready, as Hodges said, we leave in five."


	8. Chapter 8

The plan was to drop everyone off at home, go to sleep and at the evening, everyone meets at a bar and has a good time, celebrating both the fact that Nick and Greg closed a case and that they all had a free weekend. That was something that came along very rarely. Even the lab rats had the weekend off, so everyone was invited to join them. Well, not exactly everyone. Everyone but Julian, since no one really liked him.

It was a rather unpleasant situation, both Nick and Greg didn't like lying to Julian, but they also didn't want him to join them when they were celebrating with their friends. But it was also a quite funny situation, too.

"Okay, I'm ready!" Julian said, running up to them from behind.

Not good, Nick thought. He wanted to tell Hodges what they were up to before Julian was with them so that he won't ruin their plan. Now they had to play it cool, hoping Hodges would get what's going on and just play along.

* * *

><p>All four got into Nick's car. Nick was in the driver's seat, Hodges was sitting next to him and Greg and Julian sat in the back seat. Nick would've preferred if Julian sat in the passenger seat, but Hodges called dips on the passenger seat a few months back and wouldn't give it up, no matter what.<p>

Hodges did wonder a bit why Julian was with them, he couldn't stand him. They were probably too much alike, but even Hodges was annoyed by Julian. "So why's HE with us?"

"We're just dropping him off at home," he replied, hoping he would stop asking questions.

"Ah, okay. Is he coming to the bar later, too?"

Silence. They both would've liked to kill Hodges right now. Why did he HAVE to say this?"

"...Bar?" Julian said very interested. "You're going to a bar?"

Just now, Hodges realized what he did.

"Yeah but there will be only people you don't like, so..." Greg said, trying to convince Julian not to come.

"Yeah but you will be there, too, right?"

Greg looked surprised at him. He just realized, Julian obviously still wasn't over his crush. Rather helplessly he was looking for words. What was he supposed to answer? Even Hodges looked at them rather surprised, despite already knowing that Julian had a crush on Greg.

Julian smiled at Greg. "So, what bar are you going to?"

* * *

><p>Julian made Nick promise to pick him up before they all drove to the bar. As much as Nick didn't like Julian, he had to pick him up. He wasn't the type to make a promise and then just break it, even if it was just Julian. So after going home, eating, sleeping, getting ready for the bar and picking up Greg and Hodges, he drove by Julian's to pick him up as well.<p>

"Go knock on his door," Nick said to Hodges.

"Me? Why me? Can't you just call him to come out?"

"We don't have his number and it's your fault he's coming with, so get out the car and knock!" he replied rather harsh.

"Jeez, alright, I'm going."

After a few minutes Hodges came back with Julian and an irritated look on his face. It always took Julian just a few seconds to irritate others.

They got in, Julian greeted Nick and Greg, and they drove off to the bar.

* * *

><p>Nick and Greg went a few feet behind Hodges and Julian when they entered.<p>

"Just try to have fun. Forget he's here, alright?" Greg whispered to Nick, who was obviously not having a good time right now. "And don't be mad at Hodges, it's not his fault!"

Nick sighed. "I know. Let's just try to sit away from Julian."

"There they are!" Sara said with a grin on her face.

Usually when the graveyard shift went out after work, it was only the CSIs, but today, it was also the lab rats.

They pushed together a few tables to sit together. It was a big group, with Catherine, Sara, Ray, Archie, Mandy, Henry, Bobby, Hodges, Julian, Greg and Nick.

They were all sitting together, having a good time, laughing, already drinking and just enjoying themselves.

Three chairs were empty. They didn't know Julian would join them, but Ray noticed they needed another chair and got up and brought one.

Everybody scooted a little closer to make room for the fourth chair. Hodges sat down next to Ray, Nick gently pushed Greg towards the empty chair next to Hodges, making sure Julian won't sit on his side. He then sat down next to Greg and Julian sat down next to him and Catherine.

A waitress came and placed drinks in front of Nick, Greg and Hodges.

"We're sorry, Julian, we had no idea you would come," Ray said, ordering a drink for him, too.

"A pretty big group, huh? Just say a word about free drinks and everyone comes," Greg said jokingly.

* * *

><p>As the night went on, people left their chairs to go to the bathroom, to bring the next round of drinks and to dance. Nick got up to dance with Catherine, so Julian scooted over to sit next to Greg, who was just talking with Archie.<p>

He engaged in the conversation and had a good time, neither Greg and Archie minded, they actually had fun talking with him.

Despite the fact that he was annoying and didn't really care for anyone else but his "friends", Julian could be fun and good company. He just needed to get out of his own way and stop acting like he's the most important person in the room, and right now he did stop it.

Nick looked over to Greg and Julian, but saw how easygoing and happy Greg looked, so he thought it was okay.

* * *

><p>As the clock turned closer to 3 a.m., the first group left. Catherine, Archie, Ray and Bobby were the first to leave.<p>

Everyone was a little tipsy and not as energetic as they were before, so nobody but Hodges and Mandy was dancing anymore.

Right now, Sara, Henry and Nick were having a conversation, and Greg and Julian were talking to each other, too.

Greg was surprised how good Julian was to talk to and how nice he was. He actually thought that they could be friends, but maybe that was just the alcohol talking.

Julian obviously had one too many drinks and started to tell Greg about his childhood and family. He said rather intimate things Greg wasn't sure he wanted everybody to know, so he asked if it was the right place to share this information.

Julian said, "You're right," and stood up, walked over to a booth, turned around to Greg and said, "Come on, follow me!" and Greg did.

Julian waited for Greg to sit down because he wanted to sit next to him. If he would've sat down first, Greg probably would've sat opposite him, like anybody else would've. But now that Greg sat down first, Julian was able to sit next to him.

Greg didn't really wonder about it, he just figured Julian wanted to talk with him quietly, so that no one could eavesdrop on them.

Julian went on to talk about his childhood and family. He was clearly drunk and getting closer and closer to Greg.

"I'd like to tell you a secret now..." Julian said with a smile on his face.

"Okay," Greg said. He was a bit tipsy himself and didn't really notice how close Julian was already sitting.

He got close to Greg's ear, touched him on the shoulder and started kissing his neck.

"Julian!" Greg said, trying to keep his voice low. He didn't want Nick to know about this. As he tried pushing Julian away, he grabbed Greg's cheek with his left hand and Greg's left hand with his right one.

"Stop it, Julian!" Greg said, desperately trying to get out of Julian's grip.

After struggling with him for about half a minute, Julian finally let go of Greg.

"What the hell is wrong with you? I told you a hundred times, I'm not gay!"

"But... I love you! That's nothing I can turn on and off, I just do!" He gently started to stroke Greg's hand and back.

"Get your hands off me! Stand up!"

Julian did. "You want to go somewhere else?"

"What? God, no! Don't you listen? Go back to the group!"

Julian just stood there for a few seconds.

"Go!"

"Aren't you coming?" Julian asked confused.

Greg didn't know what to say. Was Julian being serious? Why couldn't he understand and accept the fact that Greg didn't want him? "I'm coming in a minute, I just... I need some time alone now."

"Okay, I'll safe a seat for you." Julian finally went back to the group.

Greg rubbed his eyes. How could he get rid of Julian? What was he supposed to do now? Just get back to the table and act like nothing happened?

He just now realized he was shaking again. Julian just wouldn't stop hitting on him in a very aggressive way and he had no idea if Julian had a line he wouldn't cross.

"Hey, all alone?" Sara walked over to Greg and sat down opposite him.

"Yeah..." he said, faking a smile.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Are you shaking?" She noticed it quickly.

"What? No, I... I guess I just had a little too much to drink," he replied embarrassed.

"Yeah?" She asked, knowing that that's not the reason.

"Is everything alright between you and Julian?"

"Yeah... Yeah, everything's alright, I'm just a little tired, is all. I think I'm gonna go home now." He gave her a smile, looking really exhausted.

"You want me to walk you out?"

He shook his head. "Have fun."


	9. Chapter 9

Waiting for a cab outside the bar, Greg looked at his watch. 3.42 a.m. For someone who works the graveyard shift it wasn't really late. But what just happened with Julian was enough for one night, he just wanted to go home.

Finally a cab came along and Greg got in. When he wanted to close the door and tell the driver his address, the door opened again and Julian got into the cab. "Hey buddy."

"Julian..."

"Don't worry, the cab's on me." Julian smiled.

"Wait, stop the car." Greg instructed the driver and he stopped.

"What's wrong?" Julian asked confused.

"We're not going to share a cab! You're wasted, just go home." Greg opened the door and wanted to get out of the car, but Julian held him back.

"Wait. What are you doing?"

"Julian, you're drunk, I'm tired. Just let me go and we'll talk about this tomorrow." Greg turned to the cab driver. "Please bring him home," and named him Julian's address.

"Greg, just a second..." He waved to Greg with his hands to make him come closer.

"Good night, Julian," he said and just got out the cab, watching it drive off.

Not feeling like waiting for another cab, he decided to walk a while, trying to find one.

* * *

><p><p>

Monday night. The graveyard shift had to go to work again. Greg – again – was dreading to see Julian after that night in the bar. When he got home from the bar he found a few messages from Julian on his answering machine. They were mostly a drunk man's ramblings, but also declarations of love. After the fourth message he even cried on the phone. Greg just hoped Julian was drunk enough to have had a blackout and that he can't remember everything from that night. It would spare both him and Greg a very inconvenient talk that actually was long overdue.

Greg and Nick still had to prove that Mr. Smith, Mr. Thompson's brother-in-law, acted in self defense when he shot Mr. Thompson. Nick was running late today, so Greg had to go into the DNA lab on his own.

Greg walked into the lab. No one was there. He was relieved, he didn't have to face Julian just yet.

Fumbling through reports of processed DNA evidence, Greg found the ones for his case. Grabbing the files, he quickly turned around and wanted to get out the lab, in case Julian might be on his way. But it was already to late, he was standing in the doorway.

Greg got startled by seeing him. "I just needed these..." He held up the files for Julian to see and walked towards the door, but Julian didn't move an inch, he just stood there in the doorway, looking quite hungover.

"Hello Greg..." he said in a weird voice.

Greg gave him a rather embarrassed smile and tried to get out the door, but again, Julian didn't move. "Excuse me..." he said, trying to let him know he wants to get out, but Julian just looked at him.

"Can I do something for you?" Greg said rather annoyed. He didn't feel like addressing this subject now, he just wanted to get out of this lab and do his job.

"You never called back..."

"...Come again?"

"I called you like a hundred times two days ago, AND yesterday! Why didn't you return my calls?"

"Oh that's what your drunk ramblings were? Calls you wanted returned?" Greg asked sarcastically.

Julian gave him a cold look that kind of scared Greg, he never saw this look on him before. "Ramblings? I shared my feelings with you! And you didn't even call back!" Julian said quite loud. People outside the lab started to look at them. They didn't understand what they were saying, but it was quite obvious that Julian was angry.

"Can we please not talk about this here?" Greg said embarrassed. "And keep your voice down!"

"I'm sorry, okay? I'm just disappointed... I really thought you'd call back."

Greg rolled his eyes. He was getting really annoyed by this. It was as if Julian didn't WANT to get it. "I didn't want to call back because there was nothing to say to you. The way you acted in that bar was... not okay. I didn't want to talk to you after that."

"...What are you trying to say?" Julian said, acting really dumb. But he really wasn't sure what it all meant.

"What I'm trying to say is... It was really nice talking to you at the bar before you... You know. I really thought we could be friends. But now I see, it's not possible. Not until you realize that we won't ever be together..."

Julian just stood there and stared at Greg. Although obvious to everybody else, he just didn't see it coming.

"Now please step aside, I need to get back to work..." Greg went out the lab, leaving Julian both angry and sad.

* * *

><p><p>

Nick walked in as Greg was trying to work on the case in the layout room.

"Hey, sorry I'm late. There was an accident a few blocks away from the lab," he said with a smile on his face.

"A bad one?" Greg asked, looking up to him.

"Two fatalities... I think Ray's on it."

Greg nodded and concentrated on the DNA reports again.

"I just ran into Julian, he looked bad," Nick said, waiting for Greg to explain what happened, but he just shrugged.

"...You wouldn't happen to have anything to do with it?"

"I think he's hungover."

"We were at the bar two days ago. Did he go out yesterday, too?"

"I'm not his mom, Nick," Greg replied irritated, keeping his eyes on the files.

"You left the bar without saying good bye to anyone... Did something happen with Julian?"

"No... Now put some gloves on, we need to process Mr. Thompson's clothes." Greg stood up to get the clothes out of the evidence box.

"Greg, what did he do?"

He stood with his back turned to Nick at the evidence box and shook his head. "It's okay, he was just very drunk." He sat down again and was ready to process the clothes, but Nick took them out of his hands, making him look at him.

"If you want me to talk to him, just say it!"

He looked up to him with an obviously fake smile. "Thanks, but really, I already did, I think he got it this time."

"You're sure? Well, if not, I'll clarify it for him."

* * *

><p><p>

For the rest of the shift, Greg managed to stay away from Julian. Of course, he couldn't know it was actually Julian trying to avoid him. He was embarrassed, angry and sad about what Greg said. He really thought his crude way of hitting on Greg was actually working. He truly believed Greg just wasn't ready yet, he wasn't accepting who he really was. That wasn't the case, but Julian believed it. And he still did. He thought there was still a way to be with Greg, he just didn't figure out how he could do it. Yet, anyways.

Lost in his thoughts, he walked down the parking garage. How could he convince Greg that he's the one for him? And why wouldn't Greg accept it? He kept thinking about that as he opened his car.

"Hey, Julian!" Nick walked up to him.

"Hey," Julian said, wanting to get in the car.

"Wait, I wanted to talk to you."

" 'Bout what?" he asked without interest.

"You know, I stayed out of it long enough. And only because he asked me to, but I really need to talk about this."

"Who asked you what?" Julian didn't even listen to what Nick said.

"Greg, he doesn't know I'm talking to you."

As soon as he heard Greg's name, he listened. "What about him?"

"Okay, listen. I have no idea what happened between you two before he left the bar, but something did. Whatever it was, it better doesn't happen again. Greg said it more than once, he's not interested. You better start accepting this or you're going to have a problem with me, you understand?"

"A problem with YOU?" Julian asked rather amused.

Nick nodded. "Just stay the hell away from him."


	10. Chapter 10

Julian finally thought to have found a way to infatuate Greg. The first thing he would do to achieve that was to apologize to him. And typical for Julian, it couldn't wait until the next day. No, he needed to do this now, hours after shift, so he drove to Greg's place.

When he opened the door, Greg was surprised to see Julian. "What are you doing here?"

"Can I come in? I wanted to..." Julian was cut off by Greg slamming the door, but he was able to open it again, quite forcefully, before it snapped shut. "Just hear me out!"

Greg took a few steps back, looking really scared. "Leave or I'll call 911, I'm serious!"

"...WHAT?" Julian yelled outraged, causing Greg to wince. Noticing the fearful look in his eyes, he calmed down. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you... But please, I need to say this!"

"The last time you wanted to talk, you kissed me."

"Yeah well, that's actually why I'm here..." Julian walked up to Greg, making him take another few steps back, facing now Julian with his back to the wall.

Nervously, Greg said, "I'm calling the police...", and walked towards the living room, but Julian grabbed his arm.

"No, I won't... I won't try anything again, I promise!"

Not feeling too good about this, Greg reluctantly agreed to hear Julian out. "Okay, but don't make me regret this decision..."

They walked into the living room where Julian sat down on the couch, and Greg, like the last time, kept standing up, a few feet away from him.

"You're not sitting down?" Julian asked surprised.

"What is it you needed to say?"

"You're scared of me... I'm so stupid... I'm sorry, Greg! I know I crossed a line and I really want to apologize for it..." Julian said remorseful, not even looking Greg in the face. He stared down to his feet.

Greg didn't know what to say. Julian's apology sounded and looked genuine, but he already apologized once and then the incident in the bar followed.

"I hope it's not too late... I realize now that our friendship is more important than my feelings for you..."

"...You still have those feelings?"

"It's not something I can turn on and off however I like, but I'm working on it," he replied, giving Greg a smile.

Greg stood there leaning against the wall. "Well... Thank you for your apology..."

Julian stood up with a big smile on his face. "So we're friends again?"

Greg hesitated for a moment. "I don't know, Julian..."

He looked at him with a sad face. "Please, give me a second chance. Let me prove to you that I've changed!"

Greg wasn't quite sure what to think of it, but he decided to give Julian another shot. He nodded. "Alright..."

Julian put his big smile on again and walked up to Greg, giving him a tight hug. "Thank you so much!"

"But..." Greg got out of the hug. "For now, let's just not do the hugging and stuff, alright?"

"Yeah, sorry..." he laughed sheepishly.

* * *

><p>The next few days, things seemed to be going swell between Greg and Julian. They were friendly with each other, Julian more than Greg, though, and it didn't feel too weird for either one of them.<p>

But one person did notice the weird behavior the two showed in the last couple of weeks. Catherine noticed the tension between them and was rather surprised to see them acting as if they were good friends now. At least that's what it looked like to her, and it made her suspicious. Trying to find out what was going on in her team, she asked Greg to see her in her office.

"Hey Catherine." Greg entered and closed the door behind him.

"Sit down, please," she said smiling.

"We hardly ever see you outside the office anymore," he said, returning her smile.

"Yeah well... I'm swamped in paperwork right now. That's the reason I'm talking to you now, when I actually wanted to do that days ago..."

He nodded, wondering what it was about.

"Well, actually I just wanted to see if you're doing okay. It's been a few crazy months... How are you holding up?"

"I'm great," he said, "I tried to keep all that stuff behind."

"That's good to hear... And besides that, is everything good?"

Greg wondered what she was talking about. "Uh... I guess?"

"How about you and Julian? I know he can be annoying, but it didn't use to bother you that much. And now you guys suddenly act as if you were friends, what's going on?" She put her glasses down.

"You worry because Julian and I are friends?" He laughed confused.

"I worry because, just a few days ago, you were having a fight in the lab, and now it's like nothing happened."

"So?" Greg asked rather defensive.

"Nothing. I just want to make sure everything's alright between you two. Nobody ever tells me anything anymore, I just want to know if the team gets along."

"Well, Julian can be a bit difficult to handle... I think everyone agrees with me on that. But I try my best to get along with him."

"Are you sure? Because a few days ago I saw you two together... and it almost looked as if you were scared of him."

Greg laughed nervously. "Why would I be scared of him?"

"I don't know, is there a reason? Because if there is one, I need to know."

"No..." He smiled. "He can be a jerk sometimes but he's not dangerous or anything, don't worry."

Catherine sighed. Being busy with paperwork and politics the last few weeks, she wasn't able to connect with her team as much as she used to. She feared to overlook important things, like what was going on between Julian and Greg. She knew that something was fishy, but she had no clue what it could be. Nobody told her about Julian's crush. "Alright... But you know you can always come to me if you have a problem, right?"

* * *

><p>When Greg left the office, he was headed off by Julian.<p>

"What did you say about me?"

"Huh?" Greg asked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Wasn't this about me?" Julian asked nervously.

"No. Well, kind of, but... what did you think I said? Did you tell her anything?"

"Of course not! I just thought maybe Nick did..."

"Nick?"

"Oh yeah right! He said you didn't know he was going to talk to me..." Julian said while turning around, walking towards the DNA lab, hoping that Greg would follow him interested.

"What? Wait!" Greg followed him. "What did he say to you?"


	11. Chapter 11

Nick was standing in the locker room, touching up on his looks. He was wearing a suit and was ready to go to court.

"Hey." Greg walked in. "Nice suit."

"Where's yours? Aren't you supposed to testify in the Thompson-case, too?"

"I am, I was just about to get ready. I just wanted to tell you something, you got a minute?"

"Sure." Nick nodded, sitting down on a bench.

"I just wanted to thank you. You know, it's very important to me that you didn't talk to Julian, although I know how much you want to, but you'd never betray your friends like that..."

"He ratted me out, huh?" Nick said, knowing exactly what Greg was up to.

"What exactly did you say to him?" Greg asked, a bit annoyed.

"This question would be much easier to answer if you'd tell me what you already know..." Nick said with a cute smile on his face.

Greg sat down next to Nick, rolling his eyes. "I'd really like to be mad for what you did, but it actually helped. He apologized for what happened and he's been acting normal the last few days."

Nick patted Greg on the shoulder and stood up. "The next time you tell me not to help you, remember this. I could've saved you a lot of trouble if I talked to him weeks ago!" he said cocky.

"Yeah well, thanks for not listening to me," Greg said smiling.

As Nick walked out the door, Greg noticed a hole in his suit. "Nick, wait. You got a hole in your jacket."

"What?" Nick turned his head around to take a look. "Dammit, how did that happen?"

* * *

><p>Greg was driving Nick's car to the courthouse while Nick was trying to mend his jacket. "Does this look like a burn mark from a cigarette to you?" He showed the hole to Greg.<p>

"It's too big to be from a cigarette, a cigar, maybe?"

"Where did I wear this suit when someone was smoking a cigar? I only wear it to court!"

"Just cover it up somehow. It's a black suit, nobody will notice."

While driving in a curve, the two CSIs could feel a jolting.

"Did you hit something?" Nick said, turning his head around.

"I don't think so," Greg said while looking in the rear view mirror. "You see anything?"

"No."

As they kept on driving to the courthouse, the car suddenly started to spin out of control. Greg tried to steer away from the parked cars he was about to crash in, but without success. The car crashed into two parked cars head-on.


	12. Chapter 12

_Guys, I just wanted to take some time to tell you: thank you for reading and reviewing! It really means so much to me to know that some people are actually reading this! ;)_

_I decided to add this chapter today, although I've already added one. Just a little treat for you to show my appreciation!_

_I hope you like where this storyline is going! And now enjoy the next chapter!_

* * *

><p>Bystanders were crowding around the car, but nobody tried to help Nick and Greg. Someone called an ambulance, but nobody tried to get them out the car or see if they're okay. They were just staring at the car wreck.<p>

Slowly the door on the passenger side opened. Nick tried to get out the car, but fell out of it, rather than walk out of it. "Help him out the car..." Nick said to the bystanders.

When nobody was reacting, neither did anyone rush to Nick to help him get up, he continued, "We're with the police and we'll arrest everyone of you for denial of assistance if you don't help us!", sounding both desperate and angry.

This threat was enough for three people. Two of them got Greg out of the car, and a third one, a young woman, took care of Nick. Some of the bystanders even walked away, in fear of getting in trouble for not helping.

Nick walked over to Greg with the help of the young woman, but could already hear him talking. "Are you alright?"

"I don't think there's an inch on my body that doesn't hurt, but other than that, yeah... How about you?"

"Same." Nick smiled relieved. "What happened?"

"I'll never drive in your car again," Greg said jokingly.

"You lost a wheel!" One of the helping bystanders said. "The left one in the back." He pointed at where the wheel was supposed to be.

And indeed, it was gone. It was now lying near the pavement, several feet away from the car.

"How the hell did that happen?" Nick asked shocked.

* * *

><p>After being checked out by the doctors, Nick and Greg were released from the hospital. Catherine came by to pick them up. She only heard that the two were in a car accident and she had no idea how bad their injuries were. She rushed in, finding Greg sitting in the waiting room all by himself.<p>

"Where's Nick?" she asked terrified, running up to Greg.

He stood up to get hugged. "He's fine, don't worry! He just needed to call the DA, tell her we're not coming."

"Thank god..." Catherine sighed in relief. "What happened?"

They sat down and Greg tried to explain, although he had no idea what really happened. All he knew was that they thought they'd run something over, but nothing was there. And then, a few minutes later, Greg lost control over the car and it crashed. He had no idea how they were able to lose a wheel.

Nick walked up to them. "Alright, let's get out of here."

"And you two are alright?" Catherine asked worried. "Let me talk to the doctor."

"We're fine. Nothing fractured, just very bruised..." Nick laughed a bit, causing him to squirm. His ribs were bruised and laughing hurt him.

"Yeah I can see that you're fine, Nicky," she said sarcastically. "I know you two. You want to get back to work, right? You should really take a few days off."

"You're right," Greg said, surprising Catherine.

"...What?"

"Well we don't have any serious injuries, but it does hurt. We should probably take a few days off to heal."

Catherine looked at Nick. "How about you?"

Nick nodded. "As much as I hate to admit it, he's right. We're taking a few sick days."

"...That's not some kind of trick, right?"

They both laughed, causing Nick to squirm again. "No... We're serious. We'll have to show up in court tomorrow, but we're not going to work."

* * *

><p>While Greg and Nick were at home resting, Catherine and Sara were trying to find out how their car lost a wheel. They were in the garage with the car, trying to find the reason, when Ray walked in.<p>

"Catherine, is this Nick's car?" he asked surprised to see it in that condition.

"Didn't Hodges call you?"

Ray patted himself down. "Dammit, I must've left my phone in my locker. Is Nick alright?"

She nodded. "Greg was driving when they had the accident, but both are fine. They took a few days off though. And we need to find out what happened."

He walked around the car and instantly noticed that one wheel was missing. "Was the missing wheel the reason they crashed?"

She nodded again. "We're not sure why, yet, but..."

He interrupted her. "I think I know why. I just had a case with a car crashing because the wheel loosened. Officer Mitchell said they had two other reports where the car almost crashed because of a loosened wheel."

Catherine and Sara looked surprised at him. "Do you know how that happened?"

"Mhm. The wheel nut was loosened in two cases. They were even removed in the third case."

"You know..." Sara said, "I found one wheel nut several miles away from the car crash, and only found another one near it. Where are the other ones?"

"Greg said that they thought they'd hit something because the car was jolting. Maybe they felt one of the wheel nuts getting off and the wheel loosening?" Catherine said, looking at the car. "Do you have a lead yet?" She looked back at Ray.

"Well it's not like these wheel nuts are worth anything, you can't sell them for good money. And they didn't take all, they left two or three and took the other ones. Whoever did this wants to do harm. I think it might be teenagers fooling around, the victims are not connected in any way. But I was able to lift fingerprints off the cars, maybe we're lucky and they didn't wear any gloves..."

* * *

><p>"Do these look familiar to you?" Catherine showed Travis White and Dennis Lassiter pictures of the cars that crashed, including Nick's car. They were sitting in the interrogation room. "We found your fingerprints on three of those cars, and as far as we know, you're not mechanics."<p>

"Yeah we've seen some of them... But we just looked at them and touched them because we liked them," Dennis Lassiter answered.

"You touched their wheels because you like them?" She asked, not believing their story.

Lassiter nodded confident.

"So why did you carry a wheel brace in your backpack, then?"

They didn't say anything.

"You killed two people and injured two CSIs. You're going to prison for a long time."

Looking quite unimpressed, they leaned back, still not saying a word.

"Alright. If you don't want to talk..." She stood up and walked out.

* * *

><p>"Catherine!" Archie said from inside the break room, as she was passing it by.<p>

She went in. "Hey."

"How did it go with your suspects?"

"They were quite uncommunicative," she said smiling. "I just hope the evidence we have is enough for the jury."

"Don't worry, because I got something that'll help you in court!"

She looked both surprised and interested.

While fixing himself a cup of coffee, he explained that one of the driver that almost had an accident was driving home from a supermarket when he almost crashed his car. His car was parked at the supermarket's parking lot, and that's when someone loosened the wheel nuts on his car. "Brass sent me the video footage from the parking lot, and your suspects are clearly on it."


	13. Chapter 13

Nick and Greg just came back from their court appointment. They did good in court and they were sure the case would turn out good.

Still not feeling too well after the car accident yesterday, they decided to spent some time healing together at Nick's place.

Right after they walked in, Greg checked his cell phone. "Julian tried to call me three times."

"I knew it was a mistake to give him your number," Nick said jokingly, walking into the kitchen to fix them something to eat.

"I'll call him back, maybe it's important." He started dialing.

"I doubt it's important, but go ahead," Nick replied from the kitchen.

"Hey Julian, it's Greg. What's up? Thank you... No, please, calm down, it's alright. No! You don't have to... No, really. I... I'm not home yet, anyways. Yeah, the court appointment. Mhm, good, thanks. No, actually, I'm at Nick's right now. Yeah, we're in the same boat right now, so... Huh? No, really, I don't feel like... No, but thank you..." He tried several times to end the conversation, but Julian just kept talking and talking. Finally, when Nick was almost done with preparing the meal, he was able to hang up. "I'm sorry," he said to Nick.

"He had a lot to talk about, considering that he saw you yesterday," Nick said amused.

"He wanted to come visit me after shift, I told him not to. I just hope he won't do it, anyways. He surely has some boundary issues."

Nick laughed while placing the plates on the desk.

* * *

><p>At the same time, Sara heard glass breaking while walking past the DNA lab. When she stopped to take a look, she found Julian, obviously outraged and broken glass on the ground. "What's going on in here?"<p>

"Nothing..." he said without concealing the anger he felt. "I just... dropped something."

She looked at him for a few seconds. "You look kinda angry..."

"I'm not!" he snapped at her.

"I can see that..." she replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes and leaving.

* * *

><p>"They confessed to vandalizing three cars, but claim they didn't do anything to Nick's car." Ray was sitting in Catherine's office, talking about the case with her and Sara.<p>

"And we didn't find their fingerprints on the car," Sara added.

"I'm sure their lawyer told them that Nick's car was the one with the CSIs, maybe they're afraid to get higher sentences because they injured them?" Catherine was reading the transcript of their confession.

"It doesn't really make any sense. Why should they admit to causing a fatal car crash rather than one where two CSIs got injured?"

"Their lawyer probably also told them that we don't have any physical evidence to link them to Nick's car," Ray concluded, looking at his two colleagues.

"We got to look into this either way. If they're telling the truth we need to find out who did this to Nick and Greg."

* * *

><p>Nick and Greg fell asleep on the couch while watching some TV. They were woken by the doorbell half an hour later. Both awoke with a start, being a bit confused and disorientated for a second.<p>

When Nick answered the door, he found a pizza delivery guy standing at the doorstep. "Did you order pizza, Greg?"

"No."

"We didn't order, I think you got the wrong address."

"It should be correct, sir. 23,50$, please," the delivery guy said.

"Well it's not. We didn't order any pizza and we're not going to pay for it."

"Sir, you can't just order pizza and then decide you don't want any."

"I DIDN'T order any!" Nick said annoyed while Greg kind of enjoyed this scene.

"This kind of behavior is rude and unfair! This is gonna be deducted from my salary!"

"I'm sorry for you, but that's not my pizza, why should I pay for it, then?"

The delivery guy rolled his eyes. "Just a second..." He took his cell phone out and dialed a number. Nick's phone rang.

He raised an eyebrow. "Where did you get my number from?"

"You gave that number when you ordered!"

Nick looked at Greg. "Did you...?"

"No!" he said amused. "It's a funny prank, though."

Nick took his wallet out. "Alright..." he said annoyed, "but don't expect any tip!" He payed the delivery guy and took the pizza inside. "If I ever find out you did order, I'm gonna..."

"Relax," Greg interrupted him, laughing, "I didn't."

"But who did, then?"

Greg shrugged and took a slice of pizza out of the box. "It's tasty, though."


	14. Chapter 14

Nick and Greg came back to work on the fourth day after their car accident. The bruises and scratches this accident caused were still visible, but they felt much better and ready to get back to work.

Their shift was about to start in ten minutes and they were sitting in the break room, waiting for the rest of the team. They were talking to each other when Julian came in.

"Hey guys!" he said with an upbeat mood, walking to the coffee machine.

"Hey," both replied, picking up their conversation again.

Julian walked up to Greg with a mug in his hand and placed it in front of him. "How are you doing?"

Greg looked surprised at the mug and then at Julian. "...Good, thank you."

"These bruises look horrible. I hope you're not in any pain..."

He shook his head. "I'm fine, it probably looks much worse than it actually is."

Julian sat down opposite Greg. "Do you need anything? Pain medicine, a shoulder to cry on, or something else?"

Greg looked helpless to Nick, but he just shrugged and said sarcastically, "I'd go for the pain killers."

"Thank you Julian, but I don't need anything," he said while kicking Nick's leg under the table.

"Ouch!" Nick gave him a look.

Julian looked at Nick rather annoyed. "Do you mind? We're talking here."

Both Greg and Nick looked at him a bit shocked. He's always been rude, but even this seemed kind of odd for Julian.

Sara and Ray entered the room, seeing Greg and Nick's shocked faces. "Hi. Everything alright?"

"Sure, we're just having fun," Julian said laughing.

The boys still looked a bit shocked and confused and weren't really sure what to think of Julian right now. He was always creeping them out a bit, but today all the more.

Catherine came in, greeted everybody and then sat down on the table, looking annoyed and exhausted.

"Are you okay, Cath?" Nick asked concerned.

She nodded. "Ecklie's getting on my nerves, but other than that, I'm fine," she replied rather sarcastic. "How about you?"

"We're good. It was a good idea to take a few days off, though."

She smiled at them. "Well, we have some news concerning you accident. We have two suspects in custody, but they claim they have nothing to do with your car crashing."

"But they confessed to the others," Ray explained.

"Others? You mean there's more than us? How are they doing?" Nick asked surprised.

"Two people died, but the others are fine..."

Both Nick and Greg didn't say anything for a minute. They just realized how lucky they were.

"We don't have any evidence that links them to your car, but we didn't find any evidence at all on your car. My guess is that they were wearing gloves when they manipulated your car, but we can't prove that." Catherine gently touched Nick's hand. "I'm sorry, I don't think we'll get a conviction."

Nick nodded appreciative. "That's okay, as long as we know they'll go to jail and won't do it again..."

"That's outrageous!" Julian said disgusted. "They almost killed Greg and won't be held accountable for it?"

Everyone looked kind of surprised again. Julian never cared about anything too much, but when it came to Greg, he was quite compassionate.

"It doesn't matter, Julian... They'll go to jail, anyways. They killed two people," Greg said a bit sheepish. He was embarrassed that Julian stood up for him like that and completely ignored that Nick almost died, too. "And who knows, maybe they didn't even do it."

"And who did, then? Who would want to hurt you?"

Greg looked around the group a bit helpless. Not knowing what to say to this, he just shrugged and said, "I don't know."

"Let's just hope they did it, we have to lay this case to rest, there's nothing we can do now," Sara chimed in, trying to help Greg.

"I don't think that copycats did it. The media didn't know about how the cars crashed," Ray said.

Catherine looked at her watch. "We need to go to work now, anyways..."

* * *

><p>The whole team – except Catherine – were assigned to one case. It was a bank robbery, but they didn't know yet whether or not anyone got hurt or killed.<p>

Nick was getting ready to get out in the field in the locker room, but he had a problem. His locker wouldn't open.

Sara and Greg went in, grinning when they saw Nick trying to open his locker forcefully.

"You need a hand there?" Sara asked with her typical grin.

"The door is jammed," Nick said irritated.

"It's not jammed, you just need to be more gentle with it." Greg grinned and walked over, helping him. After trying to open it a few times, he turned to Nick. "The door is jammed, Nick."

"Oh really?" Nick said sarcastically.

"Let me get the Janitor, maybe he can help," Sara offered with a smile on her face, but Nick just kept trying to open the door.

"Come ooon..." he whispered impatient.

"Nick, relax, it's gonna open somehow," Greg said, trying to calm him down after he noticed he was quite serious and not in the mood for any jokes.

"Nothing... will work these days!" Nick said angry, giving up on opening that locker door.

"Are you okay?" Sara asked worried.

Nick nodded without looking at either Sara or Greg. He sighed. "Some teenagers almost kill us, 'for fun', and they won't even have to stand up in court for it. What has the world come to?"

"They're going to get what they deserve," Sara replied, trying to comfort him.

"That won't help the two people they killed, though."

"We can't help the victims much, we can only try to find the people responsible for all the mayhem going on out there and keep them from doing it again. That's how it works. Isn't that good enough?" She put her hand on his shoulder.

"I guess..." He turned around to his locker to kick it.

"Any possibility that that's how the door got jammed in the first place?" Greg said with a smile on his face, trying to lighten up the mood.

* * *

><p>After getting the Janitor to open the locker for Nick, they all drove to a bank in North Vegas. It was one of the simpler cases, for a change. The robbers have already been arrested and all the CSIs had to do was collect the evidence to support the case. But they all already knew they'd get a conviction.<p>

This simple case gave Nick a chance to calm down again. He was very frustrated when he heard there's no proof that the people responsible for a fatal accident were also responsible for Nick and Greg's car accident. He wasn't quite sure why it was important to him, but it was. Right now he felt better about it, but it still sucked.

When the team arrived at the lab again, Catherine was walking up to them with her phone on her ear, signing them with her finger to wait until she's finished talking.

Hanging up the phone, she looked at her team. "That was Brass. He found wheel nuts in the suspect's homes. Now all we need to do is match them to the cars."


	15. Chapter 15

Greg walked into the DNA lab, looking for Julian. He was not here, which wasn't much of a surprise. He was probably getting something to eat, or something to pass his time when he should actually be working, Greg thought, so he sat down on Julian's chair and waited for him.

Getting bored after a minute, he noticed a screwdriver sitting on the desk. An odd tool in a DNA lab, Greg thought, and picked it up.

At the same moment, Julian entered. "Hey... Greg..." he said in a weird voice when he saw him holding the screwdriver. "What are you doing here?"

He put the screwdriver down. "Waiting for you. You're never where you're supposed to be. I need this processed." He gave him three evidence bags.

"What's all this?"

"Bloody security guard uniform, bloody mask and... bloody gun."

Julian gave Greg a weird look. "Where does that come from?"

"Bloody security guard," he said sarcastically. "We're investigating a bank robbery. The security guard hit one of the robbers with his gun. Several times."

"Why didn't he just shoot him?"

"He was able to sneak up on him and decided it would be more fun to bash his head in instead. I don't know, Julian. Just process this, alright?"

"Sure...," he said while Greg was getting closer to the exit. "Uh, Greg, wait a second."

"Hm?"

"So..." He walked over to him with a smile. "Nick said you have a free Thursday coming up and no plans yet?"

_Great. This can't be good_, Greg thought. "...Did he? Huh..." was all he could say.

"You know, since we're friends now, maybe we could spend some time together? I happen to have that day off, too."

"...You do..." Greg didn't like where this was going.

"How about we go see a movie?"

"...A movie...? Well, I don't know, I..."

"Come on, it'll be fun! I'll pick one and surprise you with it."

Greg didn't want to spend his precious free time with Julian, but he didn't have the heart to tell Julian that, either. "...Sounds awesome..."

"Neat!" Julian said in a happy voice. "How about I pick you up at 9p.m.?"

"You want to pick me up?" Greg dreaded the thought of Julian mistaking this for anything more than it was – two friends on a night out.

"You know, to safe gas," he said smiling. "Also, that way one of us can drink and the other drives, right?"

"...Right..." Greg said, leaving the lab sighing.

* * *

><p>"Thanks a lot, Nick!" Greg whispered to him from behind while walking into the break room.<p>

"For what?"

"Why did you have to tell Julian I have Thursday night off? Now I have to go to the movies with him!"

"I didn't tell him that."

"...What?"

"Greg, I don't even want him to be around you, why should I talk with him about you, then? Besides, I didn't even see him today."

They sat down at the table. Julian was already sitting and waiting for them.

Greg looked at Julian. He lied to him. Should he ask him about it? He wasn't sure. All he knew was that he didn't want to meet up with him in his free time.

Julian started to talk about the DNA evidence Greg dropped off earlier when he was suddenly interrupted by a loud bang.


	16. Chapter 16

A loud bang. This was all they heard.

Both Greg and Julian looked confused down to Nick, who was now sitting on the floor, under what looked like the collapsed remains of the chair he was just sitting on.

Greg reached out a hand to help Nick get up. "What just happened?"

"I... I don't know!" Nick stood up and looked down to the chair.

"Are you alright?"

He nodded. "I can't believe this. I'm jinxed or something!"

"Nah, I don't think you're..." Greg noticed the screws lying next to the remains of the chair and instantly looked over to Julian, who was trying not to laugh real hard.

"I'm gonna go punch a wall and get a new chair..." Nick said unnerved and left.

"Did you do this?" Greg asked Julian straightforward.

He shook his head, trying to conceal the evil grin on his face. "I really wish I did."

"What did you need a screwdriver for, then?"

"Well, actually, funny coincidence. I felt that some screws on my chair were loose, so I retightened them. Maybe we should check all the other chairs, too? Someone might pull a prank on the whole lab!"

Greg gazed after Julian when he left the lab. He didn't know what to believe. His guts told him Julian did this, but if it was him, he was a pretty good liar.

* * *

><p>The day Greg was dreading so much arrived. He would've loved to ask Julian why he claimed Nick told him that he had the night off, but he didn't know how. It would've sounded like he didn't want to meet up with him – which wouldn't be far from the truth – but he didn't want to hurt Julian's feelings. He just hoped Julian wanted to spend some time with a friend – not with a potential lover. At least he was able to talk Julian out of picking him up at home. He agreed on meeting him at the movies.<p>

"Hey!" Julian waved to Greg. "I already bought the tickets, I don't want to spoil the surprise, after all!"

Greg had an unease smile on his face. "Sure, a surprise..." He took his wallet out of his pocket. "How much?"

"Don't worry, it's on me," Julian said while ordering and paying the popcorn and drinks.

"No, I want to pay."

"I asked you out so I pay for it," he said with a smile on his face.

"You, uh... Julian... This isn't a date... You do know that, right?"

He laughed bashful. "Of course not! It's a friends night out! And it's my treat."

Greg resisted to roll his eyes. "Well then... Thank you..."

They walked into the screening room while Julian kept talking about stuff Greg had absolutely no interest in.

* * *

><p>For the next one and a half hour Greg had to sit through a rather bad horror movie. Every time Julian got frightened by it, he grabbed Greg's arm. The one time Greg put his arm out of Julian's reach, he grabbed his knee, so he decided to put the arm back to where Julian could grab it, since he thought it was better if he'd just grab the arm.<p>

After the movie, they walked towards their cars.

"When he ran out of the closet, I almost screamed!" Julian laughed. He enjoyed the movie much more than Greg did.

"Yeah, it was a good movie..." Greg replied. He didn't like the movie but didn't feel like Julian needed to know that.

They stopped in front of Julian's car.

"Well, thanks again for paying... See you tomorrow." Greg wanted to walk away to his car, but Julian stopped him.

"Hey, how about we get a drink?"

Greg turned around after concealing the annoyed look on his face. "...Now?"

"Yeah." Julian smiled. "Or do you need to be somewhere right now?"

"...No, but..." He sighed, hating himself for not finding an excuse.

"Great! I know just the place!"

"I don't know about that, Julian... The last time we had drinks..."

"No," he interrupted Greg, "It won't be like that, I promise."

* * *

><p>Not knowing how to tell him he just wanted to go home and be alone, Greg agreed to have a drink with Julian. He tried to have fun. He tried to remember what he thought about Julian the last time they had drinks, well, before he started to kiss his neck, anyways. He thought Julian was fun to hang out with. That's what he wanted to do now. Remember this and have fun. And he did. They both actually lost track of time and spent hours together in that bar.<p>

Greg finally realized how late it was. "Wow, it's 2a.m. already? We should get going."

"Oh come on, one more last drink."

"I already had enough," he said smiling.

"So?" A waitress put two drinks on the table. "Besides, I already ordered when you were in the restroom." Julian laughed.

"Alright, one last drink."

* * *

><p>Julian hailed a cab outside the bar. He was sober, he didn't have any alcoholic drinks, but didn't want Greg to know.<p>

Greg, on the other hand, was way more drunk than he intended to. He didn't even want to drink enough to get tipsy, but he didn't know that Julian had ordered him harder drinks than he actually wanted. Also, Julian claimed to have ordered 'one last drink' more than once, but Greg was already drunk and didn't really notice.

As soon as they got into the cab, Greg fell asleep, and the cab drove towards Julian's home.


	17. Chapter 17

**_Thank you guys SO much for your reviews! You have no idea how much I enjoy reading them (I hope you enjoy reading my stories at least half as much :) )_**

**_AbiDabi, your wish was granted, hehe. I uploaded this although it was planned for tomorrow. Please let me know what your ideas about this story were, if they're not what I wrote :) (I'd actually like to hear that from everyone of you!)  
><em>**

**_And everyone, please let me know if you like where this is going to! :)_**

**_And I can't say it often enough: THANK YOU! Thank you for reading AND reviewing! It's important for me to know what I read is actually something you guys want to read :) So thanks!  
><em>**

* * *

><p>Being woken by the sun shining in his face never hurt as much as it did now. The bird's chirping never annoyed him as much, either. But it's been a long time since Greg was drunk. And it never felt as bad as it did now. Slowly opening his still tired eyes, he didn't recognize the room he was in.<p>

_What the hell happened last night?_, was what he was thinking right now. _And where am I?_

The last thing he could remember was getting into a cab. It was a rather blurry memory, but it was all he got. After that, nothing. Addle brain.

Looking around the room, he saw a dresser, a mirror, a desk with a laptop and the bed he was waking up in. The room had white walls and the furniture was mostly white, too. Totally different from what his home looked like. Kind of neat and polished. Fancy.

He was still wearing the clothes he wore last night, but he didn't have his shoes on anymore. After he got up, he decided to take a look in the mirror. Horrible. He looked really hungover. He actually looked better than he felt, though.

He went through his pockets to search for his cell phone and wallet, but they were gone. Did somebody rob him? _Ridiculous_, he thought. How would he end up in an unfamiliar room when he was robbed? Everything here was white, but it clearly wasn't a hospital room. He didn't feel any pain, anyways, despite the feeling of his head exploding.

Not knowing who or what to expect outside this room, he decided to find out. Slowly and quietly opening the door, he found a hallway he didn't recognize, either. No pictures on the walls, nothing to hint who was living here. Only now, while he was making his way to the living room, he hit on the idea that this might be Julian's apartment. _Of course!,_ he thought. He must be at Julian's, he got into the cab with him, after all.

_No, no, NO!_, he thought, _NOT good!_ How the hell did he end up here?

When he walked into the living room, he found Julian sitting at the table and reading the newspaper. "Good morning!" he said with a smile on his face after turning around to look at Greg. "Did you sleep well?"

"Like I was in a coma..." he replied sarcastically. "What the hell happened last night?" He kept standing in the doorway with the most uncomfortable look that's ever been on his face.

Julian told Greg about what happened after they got into the cab, but, of course, only told half the story. He told Greg he overestimated himself with the drinking and that the cab drove them to Greg's apartment, but he couldn't find his keys so Julian offered him to stay over night. In reality, Julian slipped Greg hard drinks and Greg fell asleep in the cab. They never went to Greg's place, he planned to take him home.

After Greg sat down on the table as well, Julian got up and handed him a coffee.

"Thanks." Greg smiled embarrassed. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience, I usually know when to stop drinking... I don't know how that happened..."

"Ah, don't sweat it! I'm glad someone finally was able to use my guest room! How do you feel?"

"Like I got hit by a train last night," Greg laughed humorlessly. "Did I lose my keys?"

"I'm afraid so. You didn't have it in your pocket, but maybe you forgot it in your car?"

"I hope I did, though I'm pretty sure I locked it. And I need my keys outside the car to be able to do that. Well... Nick has a spare key, anyways."

Julian looked a bit weird when he heard that. "That's good... Are you hungry? I made some pancakes."

Greg shook his head. "I feel nauseated, I'm afraid I couldn't keep them inside me for too long."

Julian had a compassionate look on his face, he felt really bad for Greg. He even felt a bit guilty for being the reason he felt sick, but thought it was worth it. After all, he really enjoyed watching Greg sleep. He did it for almost an hour before going to bed. But other than that, nothing happened.

"Where's my phone?" Greg asked, still looking very tired and hungover.

"Here it is. I took it out of your pocket to make you more comfortable." Julian handed him his phone.

"...Thanks..." He checked the time on the phone. "3p.m.? How long did I sleep?"

"I think we arrived at..." Julian stopped to think. He couldn't tell him the real time he fell asleep, he needed him to believe that he lost his key and that enough time passed between getting in the cab, driving over to Greg's and driving here. "7a.m., maybe?"

Greg tilted his head back. "Wow, there goes my day off. We need to be at work in eight hours. Nick's probably asleep..." He thought about calling him to get his spare key, but he didn't want to wake him up, either. Killing the time until Nick woke up here with Julian wasn't a good option, either, though. He decided to send Nick a text message, hoping he'd read it when he woke up. "I guess I should go now..." he said, not knowing where to go.

"But you don't have your keys."

"I know, I'll just... I don't know, I don't want to bother you any more than I already did..."

"Well then it's a good thing you're not bothering me at all!" Julian gave him a big smile. "Stay as long as you want to!"

"Thank you..." he said sheepishly.

* * *

><p>Four hours later, at 7p.m., Nick finally called Greg.<p>

Greg didn't tell him the whole story, only that he lost his key. Nick offered to pick him up from wherever he was, but Greg told him he'd rather meet him at home, which he did.

When Nick opened the door, he couldn't believe his eyes. "Greg, you look horrible!"

"Oh really? Because I feel so great," he said sarcastically, but with an ironic smile on his face.

"What happened?"

"Listen, could you just give me my keys, please? I just want to go home, take a shower and get ready for work." He really wasn't in the mood to tell Nick what happened, since he already knew how he'd react.

"Didn't you plan to go see a movie with Julian? I guess you changed your plans, huh?" Nick laughed.

Greg just gave him a look, grabbed his keys and left.

"Hey, you want me to drive you?" Nick yelled after Greg, but he just walked away.


	18. Chapter 18

How would he get through his workday? Greg was hungover and felt terrible. Him and Sara were working on a drive-by shooting and Greg was walking down the road, documenting the route and collecting evidence connected to that case.

"You missed this." Sara picked up a cartridge case lying a few feet behind Greg.

"Oh yeah, thanks..." He bagged it.

Sara didn't know that Greg was out with Julian last night, but, of course, she noticed the shape Greg was in. She wanted to talk with him about it, but they were busy with the case. Also, she didn't want to sound too preachy and didn't know what exactly to say. She never saw him like that and was too surprised to handle the situation well.

* * *

><p>When they arrived in the lab, Catherine asked Greg to meet her in her office.<p>

"Sit down," she said rather harsh. "I talked to Sara about your performance in the field today. What's going on?"

"What do you mean?" he asked with a tired voice and tired eyes.

"You missed several things at the scene, Sara had to watch you like a babysitter, you're obviously hungover, what's going on with you?"

He shook his head. "I'm sorry, I have no idea how this happened..."

She laughed humorlessly. "Well then, let me walk you through it. You got hammered last night and now it's hurting your performance on the job! I don't care what you do in your free time, but I expect you to be ready for work when you come here."

He was surprised by Catherine's harsh words. He knew it was a bad idea to come to work like this, but what choice did he have? "Catherine, I really don't know how this happened. I didn't even have that much alcohol last night. I didn't even have as many drinks as I had when we all were at the bar, and I wasn't drunk then. I woke up in Julian's guest room, not knowing how I got there! I've NEVER been this drunk before, not even in college!"

Catherine stopped to think about this for a moment. "Okay, I'm sorry... I'm really stressed out right now and I let it out on you, that shouldn't have happened..."

He nodded appreciative.

"But it's irresponsible to work in a condition like that, Greg. I've never seen you like that before."

"Because I never get wasted when I have to work the next day," he said with a smile on his face.

"You did yesterday." She still wasn't sure what to think of it. She knew Greg long enough to know that this wasn't typical behavior for him, but why did he do this now? "Has this anything to do with all that's happened in the past months?"

"What do you mean?" He was confused for a second, and then he realized what she was insinuating. "No, Catherine. I didn't drink to repress any feelings. I told you, I went out with Julian and somehow drank way more than I could handle. I didn't plan this, I swear."

"Alright..." She put her glasses on. "Considering this was the first time this has ever happened, I'll let you off with a warning. But you're still going home."

He nodded. He did feel like it was justified. After all, he shouldn't have had that many drinks. He only remembered the first three drinks, though. The following drinks he had when he was already drunk he had no memory of. "I'm really sorry, it won't happen again..." he said remorseful and went out.

* * *

><p>When Greg got home, he just fell down on his bed, without even changing his clothes. He was exhausted, his head was feeling like being locked in a bench vise and he was still feeling sick. He didn't have one bite to eat yet and didn't feel like eating ever again right now.<p>

After sleeping for five hours, he woke up. He was feeling a little better, but not good, either.

9a.m.

He decided to watch some TV when his cell phone rang. Nick called. They chatted for about an hour and Greg tried to give as little information as possible. He didn't want Nick to know what really happened that night, despite not knowing what actually did happen. He just told him he had a bit too much to drink and lost his keys somewhere down the line. When asked where he's spend the night, Greg stuttered a bit, not knowing what to tell him. Then he just claimed him and Julian stayed at the bar the whole time.

"_Oh, really?"_ Nick asked in a cocky voice.

Just about now Greg remembered he already told Catherine he woke up in Julian's guest room, and Nick probably knew now, too. "Oh, I just remember... I might've slept at Julian's..."

"_Why are you lying to me, Greg? Did something happen at...?"_

"No!" He quickly interrupted him. "He was actually very nice and caring."

"_Caring?" _Nick asked suspiciously.

Greg rolled his eyes although Nick couldn't see it. "You're a jerk. He just took care of me, made sure I get home safe and stuff..."

"_Yeah but you didn't get home."_

"It's not his fault I lost my keys. I know he did a lot of stupid things in the past, but we should give him a chance..."

"_He hates me. Why should I give him a chance, then?"_

"He doesn't... hate you... He's not just too fond of you. Doesn't surprise me, though, with how you treat him everyday."

"_He started it!" _

Greg chuckled. "Maybe, but aren't you tired of the constant fighting? Just cut him some slack, be nice, maybe he'll do the same for you, then."

"_I doubt he will."_

"Maybe I could talk to him about it..."

"_Don't you dare...!"_

Greg chuckled again. "Oh, if you tell me not to, of COURSE I won't, right?"

After continuing the conversation for another ten minutes, Greg hung up. He was finally feeling hungry and went into the kitchen. When he couldn't find anything delicious to eat, he decided to go shopping. He grabbed his keys, opened the door and was ready to go out, when suddenly Julian was standing in front of him. "Hey," he said surprised.

"Hi Greg..." Julian said with an insecure smile on his face.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, but not like the last times. This time he didn't mind Julian coming over, he was just surprised.

"Well I wanted to check up on you. Catherine sent you home and I feel kind of guilty..."

"Guilty? Why? It's not like you forced the drinks down my throat," Greg said laughing.

"Yeah but I talked you into drinking in the first place... I... uh, I brought you some sandwiches. I figured you might be hungry now?"

Greg smiled. "I was actually just on my way out to get something to eat. Come in."

After Julian took care of him when he was drunk, and – as far as Greg knew – didn't take advantage of the situation, Greg saw him completely different. He actually thought Julian was over his crush, or at least could control his feelings now. He felt rather comfortable around him. But he couldn't know that this was exactly what Julian wanted to achieve from getting Greg drunk that night. "I know most people don't drink any alcohol at 9a.m.," Greg said jokingly, "But it's like evening for people working the graveyard shift, right? You want a beer?"

Julian laughed. "Water would be alright."

Greg came back from the kitchen with two bottles of water and sat down next to Julian. They ate the sandwiches, watched some TV and had fun together.

While having a good conversation about a video game, they heard a knock on the door.

"Oh, that's probably Nick!" Greg got up to open the door.

"...Nick...?" Julian asked with surprise.

"Hey, you feeling better yet?" Nick asked with a smile on his face, until he saw Julian. His smile quickly faded.

Greg gave him a look to let him know to try his best to get along with Julian.

Being nice to Julian was the least he wanted to do now, but he thought he could at least try. "Hey Julian. What's up?"

He gave Nick a nod.

When the awkward silence wouldn't pass, Greg said, "Are you hungry? Julian brought sandwiches."

"No, thanks, I'm good."

Julian looked at his watch. "Wow, noon already? Gotta go." He grabbed his jacket and walked towards the door.

"You don't have to leave," Greg whispered to him.

"No, but I want to." He gave him a smile and left.

Greg turned around to Nick and gave him an innocent smile, knowing he would complain about Julian being here.

But instead of giving him a dozen reasons why it would be best to never talk to Julian again, he just sat down on the couch and sighed.

"What?" Greg asked.

"Hm?" Nick asked with the remote control in his hand, zapping through the TV channels.

"You don't want to tell me how much you hate Julian, that you hate me for befriending him and stuff like that?"

Nick laughed a bit. "I don't hate you for that, I just think you're insane."

"Well maybe I am." Greg grinned and sat down on an armchair.

"I just hope you won't regret this... I still don't trust him."

"Don't worry. I might be insane, but I'm not stupid. I'll be careful."


	19. Chapter 19

"The people in the bank all said the same thing." Nick was sitting in the interrogation room together with Sara and the security guard whose uniform was stained in blood. "That you attacked the robber and wouldn't let go of him."

"So what? I did my job without killing the guy. Is that a bad thing?" The security guard didn't know why he was here. He thought he was a hero for what he did.

" 'How could you do this to her? What were you thinking?', does that sound familiar to you?" Sara asked.

He looked confused.

"That's what you yelled while you knocked him unconscious with your gun, isn't it?"

"What is this? I saved a dozen lives and you harass me like that? Why?"

"The robbers were unarmed, there was no need to hit him like that."

"Unarmed? No, the guy I hit had a gun in his hand!"

"Not until you put it there, right? Didn't you think we check the surveillance footage? They came in unarmed and when you checked for a pulse after you crushed his skull, the gun suddenly appeared in his hand, with your fingerprints on it..."

"I didn't plant it on him!"

"The video tapes say otherwise. And didn't you think we'd check this guy out? We know he's dating your daughter."

The security guard looked astonished. He didn't think it all through, he just acted on impulse and when he realized what he did planted the gun. He was too astonished to even talk.

* * *

><p>"Quite a weird case, huh?" Greg was pouring coffee in a mug.<p>

"Well, they probably thought it would be easy to rob a bank when you know the security guard. If he hadn't recognized them, maybe this would've worked out." Sara was sitting at the table in the break room. Julian was sitting next to her but didn't join the conversation just yet. He was busy reading one of his gossip magazines.

"Didn't it occur to him that he doesn't want his girlfriend's father to go through a bank robbery? I'm sure it's not easy to deal with something like that." Greg sat down opposite Sara.

"Well he needed the money and probably didn't think about the security guard's feelings."

Greg laughed humorlessly. "And the way the security guard reacted when he recognized the robber... Can you imagine having so much rage in you to do something like that?"

This made Julian listen up and join the conversation. "Well, when you really love someone, I think everybody's got that kind of rage in himself. When someone stands between you and that someone, you just do what you think is right."

Both Sara and Greg were a little speechless. They just talked about a man smashing somebody else's head in, and Julian agreed with it?

Greg thought that he maybe didn't get all they were saying and explained the case to him again.

"Oh, in that case..." Julian said, "He should be lucky he didn't get shot."

"How could you say something like that? Acting on your emotions isn't always the best thing to do." Greg was kind of shocked to hear that from Julian. He knew he wasn't the most compassionate person, but agreeing on murdering someone was weird.

"Come on, Greg. Didn't you ever want to hurt someone because they wronged you or tried to take something from you?"

"Well... Of course I've been angry before, but never angry enough to want to kill someone! No matter how angry you get, you have to control yourself, don't you think?"

Julian shrugged. "Some people just deserve what's handed to them."

"So you say you'd be able to kill someone?" Greg asked.

Sara tried to stay out of this discussion, but was clearly on Greg's side. It was visible in her face.

Julian noticed the looks he received and decided to back down a bit. "No, I mean, I sometimes understand when others do it, but I'd never... do it..."

Greg and Sara shared a look.

"You know, I really hope you'll never experience what it feels like to kill somebody, I don't think you have any idea what you're talking about." Greg ended the discussion with this sentence. Julian heard about what happened with Demetrius James a few years ago, but he never heard it from Greg. He only knew that Greg got attacked and killed one of the attackers in self defense, but that's about it. He didn't say anything to keep the discussion going, either, he just accepted that it ended with this sentence and thought about how he could use the fact that Greg once killed someone in his favor. A thought that never occurred to him until now.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Greg!" Julian was running up to him in the parking slot.<p>

"Yeah?" Him and Nick turned around.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" he asked as he looked to Nick.

Nick rolled his eyes a bit. "I'll wait for you in the car."

"I wanted to apologize. I think I might've been a bit insensitive earlier..." Julian said with an apologetic look on his face.

"You're entitled to your own opinion, no need to apologize." Greg smiled.

"I just hope I didn't hurt your feelings?"

"No, why should this hurt my feelings?" Greg asked confused.

"You know, I heard about what happened a few years ago... Demetrius James?"

Greg looked a bit surprised. It's been almost five years. He still thought about it sometimes, but he processed it by now. It still wasn't one of his favorite topics to talk about, though.

"That's what you were talking about, right?"

Greg shrug his shoulder. "I was just talking in general."

Julian put his hand gently on Greg's left arm. "I'm sorry if I reopened old sores..." He gave him a smile and walked over to his car, leaving him a little puzzled.

* * *

><p>"What was that about?" Nick asked. Greg was driving Nick home.<p>

"Nothing. He just wanted to talk to me."

"...About?"

"Geez, are you obsessed with him?" Greg said with a smile on his face.

"I told you before, I don't trust him. And since you seem to be BFF with him... I just try to look out for you."

"Me and him, we're not best friends," he said laughing. "He's nice when you get to know him, that's all. That doesn't mean I want to spend every minute with him."

"Yeah but does he know that?"

"Of course!"

"Oh yeah? Then why does he keep coming to your home unannounced? No, let me put it this way. Why does he keep coming to your home?"

Greg rolled his eyes as he smiled at Nick. "I don't know. He doesn't have any other friends, maybe that's why?"

"Did you ever stop to think about WHY he doesn't have any friends?"

"Come on, Nick! What am I supposed to do? I feel sorry for him."

"Pity is not a good foundation for friendship, Greg."

"It's not just pity. I like him."

"Why? What do you like about him? That he's rude and condescending? Or that he tried to force himself on you more than once?"

Greg gave Nick a look. On the one hand, he thought he was going a bit too far. On the other, though, he was right. There wasn't much to like about Julian. But Nick didn't know Julian that well. He could be a cool guy if he wanted to. Only problem was, he usually didn't care to be that cool guy.

"Can't we talk about something else?" Greg said, desperately trying to change the subject.

* * *

><p>When Greg got up on the next day and got ready for work, he couldn't find his cell phone. He was sure he had it when he came home from work, but now it was gone. He tried to call to hear it ring, but he couldn't hear it. It just wasn't there.<p>

He had to go to work now, anyways, and didn't have any time to look for it. Maybe he forgot it in his car or at the lab, he thought, although he was pretty sure he remembered putting it out of his pocket when he came home.


	20. Chapter 20

There it was! In his car! Although he had no idea how it got there, it was on the back seat.

Happy that he didn't lose it somewhere else, he drove to work.

* * *

><p>"So when's the locksmith coming?" Nick asked Greg while putting his work boots on in the locker room.<p>

"The day after tomorrow," Greg replied.

"What's taking them so long?"

"They're probably busy. Besides, it's not urgent. It's not like I lost my keys with the address on." He gave Nick a smile.

Julian walked up, coming around the corner, listening to their conversation the whole time. "Hey guys."

"Hi."

"What's up?" Julian asked, smiling at Greg and not even looking at Nick.

"We were just talking about lazy locksmiths," he replied smiling.

"You're going to change the locks?"

He nodded.

"If someone finds your keys, they won't know where you live, anyways, so why do you think you need to change the locks?" Julian glanced over to Nick, sure that he was the one who convinced Greg it's necessary.

"I know, but it's kind of a weird feeling, that someone could have the keys to my apartment. It might be silly, but I think I'll feel more comfortable with a new lock."

Julian nodded, trying to hide the anger he was feeling. He didn't say anything else and just walked out.

"Do you even remember losing your keys?" Nick asked as he gazed after Julian.

"No. Why?"

"The shirt Julian is wearing today. Don't you have the same one?"

"You think Julian stole my keys to steal my clothes?" Greg didn't know if he should be offended or amused about that.

"His reaction was kind of weird, don't you think? He tried to talk you out of getting a new lock!"

"No he didn't." He rolled his eyes. "What he said is true. There's no need to change my locks, I just want to."

"And how do you explain the shirt, then?"

"I doubt it's mine, he probably just bought one that looks like it."

Nick gave him a look. "We'll look for your shirt in our lunch break, alright?"

Knowing Nick wouldn't stop with this accusations until proven wrong, he agreed to do that, but wasn't happy about it.

* * *

><p>After Sara asked Greg if he borrowed Julian that shirt, he was wondering if it was just a coincidence or not, too, so him and Nick went over to his place to look for that shirt.<p>

" 'He's a nice guy, we're friends now, stop being so distrustful,' blah blah blah," Nick said, leaning against the bedroom's doorway with his arms crossed. "And now, look what happened."

Greg gave him an annoyed look while going through his closet. "You'll feel pretty silly when I find that shirt."

"I don't think you will find it. And even if you do, it still doesn't change anything about him being a creepy stalker."

Greg laughed humorlessly. "A stalker? Isn't that a bit exaggerated?"

"Not if you don't fi..."

"Found it!" Greg said joyful with the shirt in his hand. "There, happy now? He didn't steal anything from me."

Nick rolled his eyes.

"Don't be shy." Greg grinned. "You can say it. You were wrong."

"That's not enough for me to prove I'm wrong." Nick walked out the door. "Now come on, let's get back to work!"


	21. Chapter 21

Hey guys! Thank you all for your reviews! I'm so excited everytime I read one! ;)

I'm glad you like my stories and I love that I keep you guys guessing about what's happening next! I hope the outcome of this very long story (I think it's getting longer and longer, no end in sight yet lol - is this a good or a bad thing?) will please all of you! :)

I know self-praise is never good... lol but I really like this chapter. I had fun writing it and kept thinking about it all the time, I even edited a big part of it because I felt it could be better. I hope you guys feel the same way about it and have as much fun reading it as I had writing :)

And guys, please don't be too hard to Julian. Can't we all understand that he's obsessed with our beloved Greg? ;)

Enjoy!

* * *

><p>A week later, Nick and Greg planned to go out together after their shift. Both had the next day off. Surprisingly, Nick had to cover the shift for Ray and had to take a rain check. The second Julian heard that, he decided to use this opportunity. After Nick and Greg parted ways, he asked Greg to go out together.<p>

Feeling confident about Julian not being a stalker, Greg agreed to a night out with him. After what happened last time, though, Greg didn't want to go and have drinks. Instead, they were going to a restaurant.

They had a good dinner with good conversations. It was a fun night.

"I know you don't want to have drinks," Julian said after they payed the check. "But a few blocks down is an amazing bar! How about we have just one drink?" Julian had a glass of wine to drink with the dinner, but Greg didn't order any alcoholics. He had to work the next day and didn't want to be hungover again.

Greg shrugged with a queasy smile. "I don't know."

"Come on, you're not going to be drunk from one drink, are you?"

"Probably not." Greg smiled. "Alright, one cocktail should be fine.

* * *

><p>On their way to the bar, they went through a rather shady neighborhood. The CSIs have been called out there quite often, it wasn't the place to be all alone at night. In fact, it wasn't too far from where Greg got beat up years ago.<p>

"You're sure this is the right way? That's not a good neighborhood, you know." Greg said.

"Yeah but the bar is awesome!" Julian said excited. He didn't mind walking around here. He wasn't a Las Vegas native and he didn't live here long enough to know which neighborhoods to avoid at night. After all, he was living in a fancy apartment in a nice neighborhood and worked at night, albeit he should know from his job that Vegas isn't the safest city in the world. He was just too ignorant to realize that.

After walking for about ten minutes, Greg got nervous. "Where the hell is that bar? We really shouldn't be here! Unless we want to buy some crack, of course..." he said sarcastically.

"It's fine, don't you worry!"

Finally, they reached the bar! Before they even entered it, three guys standing around outside the bar approached them. "Good evening, Ladies," they said with a grin on their faces.

Greg kept walking towards the bar and wanted to whisper to Julian, "Where the hell did you lead us to?", but he quickly noticed Julian wasn't walking next to him anymore. Turning around, he saw him talking to the three men. He walked to him and whispered to him, "What the hell are you doing? Come on, let's go."

But Julian didn't listen to him. He kept talking to these three men. "You better apologize now," he said with an angry face.

"Come on," Greg said, grabbing Julian's arm and trying to lead him away from the men.

"You better listen to your girlfriend," one of the men said while they encircled Greg and Julian.

Julian had a crazy look on his face. "Apologize."

"Okay, it's clearly just a misunderstanding," Greg said, "We're sorry, we won't bother you anymore. Come on," he gently pushed Julian, trying to get out of the circle the three men just formed, but they obstructed them. That didn't help Greg feel any less uncomfortable and scared right now.

"You're not getting off that easy now. You wanted some trouble, you're getting it," one of the men said. They pushed Greg and Julian with their backs against the wall.

Greg looked desperately to Julian, who brought them into this situation in the first place. But he didn't seem to try to get them out of it.

"Give me your wallets and your cells."

Greg quickly did as he was told, but Julian kept looking angrily and crazy at the guy.

The guy looked back at him. "You need an extra invitation?"

Julian didn't react.

"Alright, you got ten seconds to convince your friend here to give me his money, or this won't end well for either one of you."

"Julian, what the HELL is wrong with you? Just do it!" he tried to whisper to Julian, but was talking louder than he wanted to. He was just too nervous to control his voice like that.

Again, he didn't react. He kept looking angry and crazy without moving or saying something.

One of the guys took out a knife and held it towards Julian. "Do you really think this is worth it?"

"You don't want that knife anywhere near me," Julian said, finally reacting to what happened around him.

Greg stared at him in disbelief. They were in a very perilous situation and THIS was all he could say while being threatened with a knife?

"Oh yeah?" The man laughed. "Would it be better if I'd put it somewhere near your friend, instead?" He walked over to Greg.

"Don't you dare...!" Julian said really aggressive.

Before he reached Greg, the man turned around and walked back to Julian.

"You had your chance, but you didn't take it. Now we're going to have lots of fun with you boys." He patted Julian on the cheek, grabbed his shoulder and was getting his knife closer to his body.

Before he could come close enough to hurt him with the knife, Julian grabbed his wrist and redirected the knife towards his attacker's leg, stabbing him with his own knife in the thigh.

Both the attacker's entourage and Greg stared at Julian. They were all stunned.

The attacker went down screaming.

Julian was standing over him, kicking at the man lying down.

"Julian!" Greg tried to get over to him and keep him from hurting the attacker anymore, but one of the other guys held him back by pressing him against the wall, while the third man attacked Julian from behind.

Julian was able to fight the second guy off, too. He roughed him up pretty good, causing him to squat on the ground, trying to get up. Instead of walking away from him, Julian kept kicking him.

"What the hell is wrong with your friend?" the third man asked Greg desperate. He didn't know if he should try to make a run for it or try to get Julian away from the others.

When the second guy stopped trying to get up, Julian turned to the third man. "Give him his stuff back," he ordered.

The man looked around nervously.

"NOW!" Julian shouted.

After hesitating for a few seconds, he finally gave Greg his wallet and phone back when Julian walked up to him.

"Now take your friends and get the hell out of here..."

"You're insane!" the man said while running to the other guys, trying to help them get up. They walked away, supporting the man who got stabbed.

* * *

><p>After Julian watched them walk away, he turned around to Greg with a smile on his face. "Let's get some drinks."<p>

"Excuse me?" Greg said angrily.

"What is it?"

"Julian, what in the name of god just happened?"

"It's fine, they won't bother us anymore, you're safe with me." Again, he smiled.

"After you took down the first guy and started kicking him while he was already down you scared me more than those guys did!"

Julian had a serious face on. "I protected you. You should be thankful I saved you from those meatheads," he said in an awkwardly calm voice.

Greg laughed humorlessly. "You SAVED me? You're the reason we got into this situation in the first place!" He started to dial a number on his cell phone.

"Who are you calling?"

"Brass. We need to report this, tell him they're still out there."

"NO!" Julian yelled in a very angry voice, one Greg never heard from him before, whipping the phone out of his hand, causing it to fall down to the ground and crack.

Greg just stood there and stared at Julian with fear in his eyes.

"You're not telling anyone about this, you understand?" He pressed Greg against the wall forcefully. Julian was a bit stronger than Greg. He was two or three inches taller and had a quite muscular built. But when he was angry, he was even stronger and his tight grip really hurt.

"...Why not? You acted in self defense, Brass will understand," he replied, still looking scared.

"You won't say a word!" he yelled, still pressing him against the wall.

Greg tried to get out of his grip, without success. "Julian, you're hurting me..." he said quietly, hoping Julian would realize what he was just doing, but he still didn't let go.

"No one can know about this!"

"But they're dangerous! And what if they report this incident to the police and claim you attacked them...?"

"Then YOU will tell them what really happened! You saw them. They're not in the shape to hurt anyone."

"Julian, they'd ask why we didn't report this! Let's just call Brass and tell him. It's gonna be fine, I promise." He tried to calm Julian down.

He finally loosened the grip a bit, but he still pressed Greg against the wall, and it still hurt. "Here's what we gonna do. We'll go into this amazing bar and have a drink, then we're going home and forget this ever happened! IF they really report this incident, you'll tell the police they attacked us and I saved us, alright?" He let go of him.

"You're insane to even THINK I would go to that bar with you now!" After picking up the remains of his phone, Greg walked away from Julian.

"Where are you going?"

"Where do you think I'm going? I'm going home!"

"Wait!" he yelled as he ran after him. When he caught up with him he grabbed his wrist. "You're going home?"

"Let go of me, Julian," Greg said rather calm. He didn't want to upset Julian any more than he already did.

"Let me walk you to a cab, it's too dangerous for you to wander around here alone."

Greg gave Julian a 'Are you serious?' look. "Just leave me alone..." He got his wrist out of Julian's grip and kept walking, but Julian grabbed the wrist again, this time quite forcefully.

"I'll walk you to a cab!" Julian yelled, squeezing and twisting Greg's wrist violently, causing him to cry out in pain. After Greg looked at him terrified, Julian repeated, "I'll walk you to a cab..."

They walked towards a more busy road, trying to get a cab, but neither Julian nor Greg said anything the whole time.


	22. Chapter 22

When he finally came home, Greg didn't know what to do. He wanted to call Brass and report what just happened, but he wasn't sure it was the right thing to do. Why didn't Julian want that?

He would've loved to call Nick and tell him about tonight, but he knew how he'd react. He wasn't sure if he was the right person to talk to. But who could he talk to, then? There was no one. No one who wouldn't tell him to talk to Brass about this. And maybe this was the right thing to do. Or maybe not. He was confused. What happened with Julian? Where did all this aggression come from?

"Give me a good reason not to tell Brass about this," Greg said, talking with Julian on the phone.

"_...Please just don't do it, alright?"_ Julian sounded calm now. He sounded like he usually did.

"...Did you take any drugs? Is that what you're afraid of?"

"_What makes you think that? No!"_

"Then why didn't we report this? I feel really bad about it! We let these criminals get away!"

"_We don't know their names or anything else, anyways. We have nothing to help find them. I defended us. That's all that happened."_

Greg sighed. "Why did you even stop and talk to them? You provoked them!"

"_Excuse me? They started it!"_

"No, they wouldn't have bothered us if we just kept walking. You picked up a fight. It was stupid and dangerous to do that!"

"_You want me to apologize for saving you?"_

"Saving me?" Greg knew it was a bad idea to call him. "I'm gonna hang up now."

"_Are you mad at me? What for?"_

He sighed again. "Take a wild guess." He hung up.

When Julian heard Greg hanging up, he went crazy. He threw his phone against the wall, knocked over several pieces of furniture and even smashed a mirror.

* * *

><p>The next shift started off weird. Julian kept looking at Greg in the locker room, in the hallway and in the break room, but didn't say anything. Greg noticed the looks, but tried not to care. He didn't want to talk to him. He was angry with him and didn't understand what happened last night. He got them in a dangerous situation for no reason, and didn't want to report the incident to Brass, for no obvious reason. And to top it all off, he was aggressive towards Greg when he wanted to call Brass. He even had a bruise on his wrist, caused by Julian. He hid it with long sleeves because he knew there would be questions asked if someone saw it. He still felt very bad about not reporting the incident. If these three men would hurt someone else, he'd feel responsible for it. He needed to find those guys, but Julian was right. They didn't know their names or anything to ID them. They saw their faces, but that's about it. No hard evidence like DNA available, so how could they find them. Greg had an idea, but he had to go to a crime scene, first.<p>

A 46-year old man was found dead in his house. His wife and children were found dead, too. Greg, Sara and Nick were assigned to the case. When they arrived at the scene, Brass was already waiting for them.

"Come on, they're over there," he said while leading them into the house.

David was already with the bodies. The husband was sitting on the couch, the children were lying in the kitchen and the mother was in the bathtub.

Sara walked around the premises to look for evidence. In the meantime, Nick and Greg were assisting David with the bodies.

"No, no, no!" Nick said hastily. "That's not working." Him and David were trying to get the woman out of the bathtub. The tub was filled with water, but she still had her clothes on. The wet clothes made her much heavier than she already was, making it hard for Nick and David to get her out of there. "Greg, could you give us a hand?"

Greg was just about to follow a blood trail leaving outside the bathroom. He turned around to look at Nick. Helping them get the body out of there would require rolling up the sleeves of his shirt. Well, there was no way out of this situation that wouldn't make him look like a jerk, so he had to do it. So he rolled his sleeves up and assisted Nick and David with getting the body out.

"What happened to your wrist?", Brass asked as he walked in, watching them get the body out.

"I caught it in a door," he replied, trying to hide the shame in his voice.

Brass, David and Nick shared a look Greg noticed. How foolish of him to think they'd buy this lie. After all, they see bruises all the time and are able to distinguish different kinds of bruises, and this one obviously wasn't from catching one's hand in a door.

"It looks bad. Did you go see a doctor?" Nick asked, knowing something was fishy about the explanation.

He shook his head. "Doesn't even hurt anymore."

* * *

><p>When they arrived back at the lab, Nick leaded Greg into their office quite ruggedly. "Will you tell me what's going on with you?" he asked roughly.<p>

"What?" he asked, playing dumb.

"How about you start with what really happened to your wrist?"

"I already told you, Nick," he replied impatient.

"Right. You caught the hand in a door."

"Yeah. I'm sorry if you expected something else," he replied, acting as if Nick was paranoid for thinking he lied.

"Show me that bruise."

"Excuse me?"

"Show it to me."

"Why?"

"Because. I want to take a look at it. See if something's broken."

"You're not a doctor and it's fine. I told you, it doesn't even hurt."

Nick grabbed Greg's wrist, causing him to contort his face and groan with pain. "So that's what it looks like when something doesn't hurt, huh?"

"It doesn't hurt unless a jerk twists it!" Greg replied sarcastically, walking over to the door.

"Wait." He grabbed Greg's arm, keeping him from walking out the room, but also looking at the wrist. "I've seen this kind of bruise before... Who did this to you?" he asked both angry and concerned, but before Greg could answer, he said, "Julian... I'll KILL him!"

"No! It wasn't him!" Greg replied, desperately trying to keep Nick from storming out.

"Why the hell do you keep defending this son of a bitch?"

"I'm not! But he didn't do this!"

"Oh yeah? Then who did?"

"I told you, I caught my hand in a door..." Greg thought it would be best to stick to this story, despite knowing he wouldn't believe himself, either.

"Get out of my way, I'll kick his ass!" Nick shoved Greg to the side and stormed into the DNA lab.

* * *

><p>"Julian!" Nick yelled as he walked in, followed by Greg.<p>

The lab was empty. Greg sighed in relief.

"Where the hell is he?"

"Would you PLEASE calm down already? I told you what happened, this has nothing to do with Julian!"

"Yeah right..." he said, slowly calming down a bit. "Oh I remember, he's always out somewhere on his lunch break... Hand me your cell phone."

"Nick, are you out of your mind? Leave him alone."

"I don't have his number, now come on!"

"I can't, it's broken."

Nick rolled his eyes. "Why the hell do you keep doing this? What did he do to you? Are you afraid of him?"

"God dammit, Nick!" Greg said angrily. He knew Nick only worried about him, but he sometimes acted like Greg was a little boy that needed to be protected from everything. He was totally right to worry right now, but Greg didn't really want to admit that. "Come on!" He walked him back into the office.

* * *

><p>"Alright... I'll tell you what happened, but you have to promise me you won't talk to ANYONE about this, alright? Not, Brass, not Sara, not Julian."<p>

Nick raised an eyebrow. "I don't know I can promise that."

"You have to! This won't leave this room, you got it?"

"...Go ahead," he leaned against the table and folded his arms.

Greg went on the tell him everything, starting from the nice conversations they had at dinner to the phone call they had after Greg got home, and everything in between.

Nick didn't know what to say. That's certainly not what he expected.

Greg sat down on a chair, waiting for Nick's reaction. Nick didn't look nearly as mad as Greg expected him to look like. "Say something." He couldn't take the silence anymore.

Nick walked around the room a few times. Then he sat down as well. "Are you alright?" he asked very compassionate.

Greg was surprised. He didn't expect to see Nick's soft side now. He shrugged his shoulder. "It's okay... I just... I just don't know what to do."

"For starters, talk to Catherine about it. She needs to know about his aggressions."

Greg shook his head. "No, I can't do that."

"Greg, you..."

"No! It could get him fired!"

"So...? I know you thought he was your friend, but that's obviously not the case. He's lazy and never does his job as quick as he could. You know that, he's a bad DNA tech."

"I can't ruin his life like that. Besides, maybe there's a reason for all of this..."

"Like what?" Nick asked rather annoyed.

"I don't know... Maybe I should talk to him..."

"What? No! Stay away from him! He's dangerous."

"Come on, I don't think he is... And what could he do to me at the lab?"

Nick wasn't able to talk Greg out of this, but he was just glad nothing worse happened that night. He still thought Julian was dangerous and should be fired, but he promised Greg not to tell anyone, and he didn't.

"And what about these guys? You'll let them get off with this?"

"The only way to find them is if they show up at a hospital... I thought I'd call all the hospitals in Vegas and ask if they have any new patients that fit the description."

"And if they do?"

"Then I'll go to Brass with this information. If not, there's no point in telling him."

Nick nodded. Of course he'd prefer if Greg just told Brass about this, but he could also understand that he didn't want to do that. He didn't care for Julian, but if this was one of his friends, he'd probably do the same.


	23. Chapter 23

"Yes, the left thigh. Alright, thank you," Greg said on the phone, sitting in the layout room.

Julian walked in. "What are you doing here on your lunch break?"

Greg glanced at Julian. "Nothing."

"Who were you talking to on the phone?" he asked nosy.

"Do you want something or...?" Greg asked annoyed. He didn't want to see Julian right now.

"Yeah. I want to know who you were talking to."

"I don't have time for this. Would you mind leaving me alone?"

Julian closed the door and walked over to Greg. "Who was that?" he asked rather aggressively.

Greg was getting really irritated by him. "I'm trying to find the guys that tried to rob us."

"Why would you do that?" he asked angrily.

"Don't worry, I didn't find them, anyways. They didn't go to any hospital. They probably stitched the guy with the knife wound up by themselves."

Julian raised an eyebrow. "What would've happened if you found them?"

Greg shrugged. "I would've told Brass to arrest them."

Julian ruffled through his hair. "But I asked you... not to do that..."

"I know, but you didn't give me good reason. I need to make sure I tried everything to keep them from hurting anyone else."

Julian nodded. He was really angry, but needed to keep it together. He was at work, after all.

"You need anything else?" Greg asked rather cold.

"Well, I wanted to check on you. You seemed rather angry last night."

Greg gave him a look. Was he being serious? "I still am."

"...Why?"

"Julian, are you kidding me? How about this?" He showed him his bruised wrist.

"...Did these guys do that?" he asked furious.

Greg looked a bit shocked. "YOU did."

"I did that...? Oh my god, Greg! I'm SO sorry!"

Greg looked a bit confused. Julian wanted to take a look at Greg's wrist, but he pulled back.

Julian was surprised by this reaction. "I just wanted to see if it's..."

"Don't. It'll heal, but... How could you do this?"

"I apologize! I didn't mean to hurt you! I guess the adrenaline was still flowing and stuff... I couldn't control myself enough..."

"Yeah and that's a problem... You could've killed those guys!"

"Come on, I just roughed them up a bit."

"You kicked them when they were already on the ground..." Greg shook his head.

"I told you, I was in a rage, the adrenaline..." he tried to talk himself out of it.

"Where did all that anger come from, anyway?" Greg asked both uncomprehending and worried.

Julian saw another opportunity. A way to gain Greg's trust back after this disastrous night. "Well..." He looked down to the ground. "As a kid... Well, let's just say I wasn't exactly popular. I didn't have many friends and I was bullied." He looked up to see Greg's reaction. He looked compassionate as he listened to Julian's made-up story. "I was beat up on a regular basis. Ever since then, I had these feelings inside me I couldn't control. I started to work out to be able to defend myself against those kids. And when I finally was able to, they stopped harassing me. Guess they got scared." He laughed humorlessly. "And now, every time I see 'bully behavior', something in my head just clicks, and I feel these feelings again. Anger, helplessness, rage... And I can't control it."

Greg now felt pity for him. He believed the story – Julian was an exceptionally good liar. "Did you ever seek professional help?"

Julian nodded. "I started therapy a few months ago, but stopped when I moved to Vegas. I couldn't find a good therapist yet." He wanted to applaud himself for this, what he thought, great lie. It was perfect. He claimed he only went to therapy a few times, meaning his issues were still unresolved, but it also showed Greg he was willing to change. He thought it was brilliant.

Greg didn't know what to say. It all made sense. It was a good explanation for Julian's behavior, but does knowing this change anything? Would it mean now that, if Julian ever hurts him again, Greg knowing where that's coming from makes it okay? It didn't really make Greg feel more comfortable around Julian.

"But I SWEAR, I never hurt one of my friends before!" Julian added. He figured Greg might still be a bit scared of him.

Greg nodded. "But why didn't you want to report the incident?"

"Because I was embarrassed." _Yes, another good one_, he thought. "How was I supposed to explain this to anyone? If they find out they'll fire me!"

"I don't think they would..." Greg thought about what he just heard for a while, and then asked, "So... Does this mean you're dangerous?"

Julian laughed a bit. "Not really. I mean, yeah, I have a temper, I admit to that. But that doesn't mean you'll have to worry if I strike again or something like that." When Julian noticed that Greg didn't find that funny, he added, "I swear. You're safe with me. This is as bad as it gets." He pointed at Greg's wrist. "And it won't happen again. Ever."

Greg stood up. "Well, thank you for telling me..." He turned around.

"So we're good?" Julian asked with hope in his voice.

_'Yeah'_, is what Greg wanted to say. He tried to be understanding. But he couldn't do it. He's been somebody's victim way too often, the job was dangerous enough. No need to take some of this danger home. "Well, honestly, Julian, the trust is gone," is what he said instead, and walked out.

As Greg walked away, Julian would've loved to punch a wall. He was angry. REALLY angry, but had to control himself. He didn't want to lose his job, after all. But his plan really didn't work out as he wanted it to. He hated himself right now. He walked around in that shady neighborhood on purpose. He was looking for trouble, and when he found it wanted to impress Greg with his killer moves and heroic behavior. He was too ignorant to think about what would've happened if the guys he provoked had guns, he was too confident in his skills, but it was a very dangerous plan. And it ruined the foundation Julian already built. It took him long enough to befriend Greg, and now he ruined it with this act. He was angry with himself. But this wouldn't keep him from achieving his goal, he thought.

* * *

><p><p>

"So you really ended the friendship?" Nick asked. Him and Greg were sitting in the break room.

"Mhm. Well, not with this exact words, but yeah." Greg sipped from his mug.

"How do you feel about this now?"

He shrugged. "It'll be weird, I guess. I have to see him almost every day, after all."

"Yeah but he's a grown man. I'm sure he'll act professional. Don't worry about it. You did the right thing."

Greg nodded. "Oh, I almost forgot, I wanted to give you this."

As Greg gave Nick his spare key from his new set, Julian walked in, greeting both men friendly.

They greeted back, but quickly went on with their conversation.

"What are you guys doing?" Julian said with a smile on his face, sitting down next to Greg.

"Just talking," Nick said.

Julian looked at Greg, waiting for him to say something, but he didn't.

"Come on! You're not even talking to me anymore?" he asked, still smiling.

Greg's look went from Nick to Julian. "No, I..."

"Oh like I don't know you told Nick everything. It's okay, I get that. You're best friends, you tell each other everything," he said, sounding a bit bitter. He turned to Nick. "Just so you know, I feel really bad about all of this." He turned to Greg again. "And I really hope you can forgive me someday." He stood up and walked out.

Nick could see how Greg started to feel guilty. "Don't even think that. You know you're doing the right thing. Julian's a lunatic and it's best to stay away from him."

Greg rolled his eyes. "Maybe he's right. You can read my mind now, maybe we're spending too much time together," he said sarcastically.


	24. Chapter 24

_Hi guys!_

_Sorry it took me so long to update, but it's been a few busy days and I also wanted to make the next chapters really good :)_

_I know some of you think the story's been dragged out for too long now, and I partly agree. But don't worry, we're getting close to the end now! Not sure how many chapters are left, but it's not going to be too many. ;)_

_The next chapter might take a few days, too, but I'd rather update slowly and have a great chapter instead of rushing things, please understand that :)_

_And now enjoy!_

* * *

><p>A week has passed since Greg told Julian he couldn't trust him anymore. It was an awkward and weird week.<p>

Julian tried several times to draw him out, but Greg decided to bear up, as hard as it sometimes was. He was kind of torn apart on this one. He really didn't trust Julian anymore, but he also felt sorry for him. He couldn't get the story about why Julian had a rather short fuse out of his head, but he knew that he couldn't be friends with someone he wasn't able to trust. The fact that they still had to work together made it hard, though. And Julian trying to gain Greg's trust back everyday didn't make it any easier.

Greg had to drop off DNA evidence and thought it was a good opportunity to talk to Julian.

"Hello, Greg!" Julian said cheerful.

"Hey. Here's some DNA to process."

"Thanks, I'll do it right away." This was the only upside about this all. Julian did his job faster than usual, hoping to impress Greg.

"Before you do that... I need to talk to you."

"Yeah?" he asked, hoping this would be some good news.

"You know, I really appreciate you trying to fix our... friendship, but... please stop it."

Julian raised his eyebrows. That didn't sound too good.

"It's just... give it some time. I'm not saying we won't be friends ever again, but right now... I just can't. Can you respect that?"

Julian got off his seat. "Is there NOTHING I can do to make you trust me again? I think you're being kind of unfair. I can't control myself sometimes, and you don't want to be friends anymore? It's not my fault!"

"It's not just that." Greg went on to explain why their friendship was lacking trust from the get-go. Julian hit on Greg way too aggressive repeatedly, although Greg made it pretty clear he wasn't interested. It was naïve of Greg to believe this friendship could work out. Greg tried to explain that they could still be friendly with each other in the lab, but outside of work, Greg thought, there shouldn't be any contact.

Julian nodded. "You know, Greg. That's bullshit," he said in a calm, normal voice.

"...Excuse me?"

"We like each other! Where's the problem? Why can't we be friends?"

Greg sighed. It was like Julian didn't even listen. "Because a friendship needs trust. We don't have that."

Julian laughed humorlessly. "You know, I think one day, you'll regret this..." He sat down again and started processing the evidence Greg just brought him.

* * *

><p>Three days later, after a shift without Julian – he had the day off – Greg got home. The previous days Julian ignored Greg completely. If he wouldn't have to talk to him about work, he wouldn't have talked to him at all. That's what Greg was dreading all the time. Julian created a weird atmosphere at work and Greg hated that. He tried his best to avoid that, but he just had to tell Julian that he didn't trust him anymore, that their friendship was over. He was hoping Julian would be able to be professional about it, but he acted like a child.<p>

He reached the door to his apartment and found Julian standing there.

"Hey!" Julian said with a smile on his face.

"Julian? What are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you."

Greg asked annoyed, "And it couldn't wait until tomorrow?"

Julian nodded.

"You know, you could've just called..."

"No. I can't do this over the phone, I need to do this in person."

"Do what?" Greg rolled his eyes annoyed as he opened the door.

"Let's go inside," Julian suggested.

"How about you just say what you wanted to say?" Greg said while standing in the doorway. He felt kind of silly for not letting Julian in, but he knew Julian was quick to misinterpret gestures.

"Well, okay." He cleared his throat. "I know it's all Nick's fault," Julian replied in a cold voice.

"What do you mean?"

"That we're not friends anymore. That we're not together... That you hate me!"

"What? But I don't hate you." Greg tried to stay calm, despite being a bit angry and annoyed.

"You need to stop listening to him."

"Julian, what are you talking about? This has nothing to do with what Nick thinks about you!"

"It has everything to do with Nick. He hates me. And he wants you to hate me, too."

Greg rolled his eyes. "That's ridiculous. Just go home. Give it some time. Maybe we can work this out in a few months. But now... I just need some distance from you and all that crazy stuff that's happened."

"It's because you don't trust me, I know. But how can we fix this if I don't show you you CAN trust me?"

"Julian, please. I'm tired. Go home. We'll talk about this later." Greg turned around to get into the apartment. Julian quickly followed inside. "Don't you listen? Go home." Greg held the door open for Julian to leave, but he just stood there. "You know, annoying me's not going to fix anything."

Julian slammed the door shut. "Yes it will. I'll show you you can trust me." He pushed Greg with his back against the wall. "I know what you're afraid of..." He put his right hand on Greg's cheek. "You fear I'd do something to you, right?"

Greg put his hands on Julian's upper body to keep him at a distance. "I know you'd never hurt me..." he said with an insecure, fearful smile.

"You don't believe this, that's why we're not friends anymore, right?" He got his lips closer to Greg's. "But don't worry..." he whispered before he pulled his head back again. "I'm not that kind of guy." He took a few steps back. "You see?"

Greg stood there, with his back against the wall and a confused look.

"See? I can be trusted! I'm not going to hurt you!"

"Julian..." Greg was looking for words. "THIS is how you show me I can trust you? That's insane! Get out of here!"

"...What?"

"Something in your head clearly isn't right! Stop doing this!"

"Stop doing what? I want to show you you're safe with me!"

"That's not going to make me feel safe with you! You really need to stop trying. You can't fix this. All you can do is wait, maybe I'll change my mind someday."

"...That's all I can do? Wait?"

Greg nodded. "But don't hold your breath." Greg opened the door for Julian.

Julian didn't say anything, just look at Greg before walking out.

It wasn't until two days later that Greg noticed something in his apartment to be different.


	25. Chapter 25

_So sorry it took me so long! I'll try to update the last few chapters quicker :)_

_Enjoy!_

* * *

><p>On the next shift, Greg was assigned to a solo case. He was supposed to go to the hospital, a man was taken in with a suspicious wound. He developed a sepsis and was rushed to the hospital with a high fever. Brass was waiting for Greg at the hospital.<p>

"Follow me," Brass said while walking Greg to the patient.

When they walked up to him, Greg couldn't believe his eyes. _It's a small world, _he thought.

"That's Mike Trenton, he has a stabbing wound on his..."

Greg interrupted him. "Left thigh."

Brass looked surprised at him. "How did you know?"

"Why didn't you report this?" Brass asked angry. They were standing outside the hospital room.

"Julian asked me not to. I tried to look for them on my own, unsuccessfully. If I would've found them, I would've told you."

"Great. The guy shows up two weeks later and might DIE from this wound. If you would've come forward right away, this would be a lot easier now."

"I know. I tried to convince Julian, but he..." Greg sighed. "I'm sorry."

"Alright. Get back to the lab, send someone else to take this case. And tell Julian I'll talk to him later."

The first thing Greg did when he came back to the lab was tell Catherine about this. She sent Ray to collect evidence from Mike Trenton and had a long conversation with Greg about integrity and sense of duty. It's not like she told him anything new, though. He knew it was wrong to keep quiet about the incident, but he wanted to be loyal to Julian. Thinking back at it, he had no idea why. Julian didn't deserve it, but it probably was more than just loyalty that back then. He was somewhat afraid of Julian, and when he told him about why he had a temper, felt kind of sorry for him. But still, he regretted his decision now.

Talking to Catherine about this was bad enough, but now came the worst part: telling Julian.

"Hey, you got a minute?" Greg walked into the break room. Julian was taking another coffee break. He didn't try to impress Greg with quick results anymore.

"Mhm," he said without looking up from his magazine.

"I had to tell Brass about the guys you beat up..." He sat down opposite Julian.

Julian stopped reading, but didn't look up just yet. "You did what?"

"The guy with the knife, he was taken to a hospital. His knife wound, the one you caused, got infected. He's in critical condition... I had to tell Brass!"

Boy, was Julian furious right now. He did his best to stay calm, though, because he thought it was a chance for him to finally gain Greg's trust back. He nodded. "Okay."

Greg looked confused. He expected something different. "Are you alright? It's okay if you're angry with me, just say it."

"I'm not." He looked up from his magazine and smiled. "Maybe it's time they all know about my past..." He had a look on his face that made Greg feel bad for him.

"You don't have to tell them everything. Just tell them what happened. They threatened you with a knife and you fought back." Greg didn't think Julian could get fired because of his sob-story about his childhood, but he thought he was uncomfortable telling Catherine or Brass about it.

"You think that'll be enough?"

He nodded. "Don't worry, just tell the truth."

"Are you gonna tell them I provoked them?"

"No."

"But... You can't lie for me!"

"I won't. I'll just tell them what happened, that they talked to us first. One thing led to another and then they threatened you with a knife. That's what happened."

Julian gave Greg a smile. "Thank you."

When Greg came home from work the next day, two days after Julian paid him a visit, he finally noticed something in his apartment was different. He wasn't sure if he was imagining things now, but he thought his armchair had been slightly displaced. Also, some of his food in the fridge seemed to be missing, and he couldn't remember eating it.

"Hey Nick... uhm... it might be a weird question, but do you still have my spare key?" he asked him on the phone.

"_I guess, why are you asking?"_

"Could you look for it and tell me if it's still there?"

"_Did you lose your key again?"_ he asked with a laugh while looking for the key. _"Yepp, still here. You want me to come over?"_

Greg sighed in relief. "No, thanks. I didn't lose my keys."

"_Then why are you asking?"_

Greg told Nick about Julian's visit, but left out the part where Julian attempted to 'show' Greg he could still trust him, but just that he was there and acted weird. He also told him about what seemed to be different in the apartment.

"_And now you think he was in your apartment?"_

"I know it sounds stupid, but... Ah, I don't know, I guess I'm becoming paranoid now," Greg said jokingly.

Nick didn't laugh, though. _"Maybe you should change your locks again."_

"No. There's no way he, or anyone else, has access to my apartment. I probably forgot I ate the food missing, and the chair, maybe it got moved when I..." Greg stopped talking as he noticed something else being different.

"_Greg? Are you still there?"_

"Okay... The food and the armchair, that can be explained... but..." Greg picked up a picture standing on a book shelve. It was a picture of Greg and Nick. "He's been in here, Nick."

"_Are you sure? What is it?"_

Greg explained to Nick what he saw. The frame's glass was smashed, exactly where Nick's face was. "He said he thought you were the reason I didn't want to be friends with him anymore... He's crazy!" It took Greg that long to realize that. He felt really stupid now. It's not that he couldn't see it, he just didn't want to believe that Julian could actually be dangerous, although proven otherwise on more than one occasion. With everything he sees everyday on the job, he was still able to be naïve enough to try and see the good in the worst people.

"_And there's no chance Julian might've done this two days ago when you were with him in the apartment?"_

"No, he was only in the hallway, not the living room."

"_Any chance you did this yourself?"_

"I doubt it... I think you were right. He's stalking me... What am I supposed to do now?"

"_Well, first, try to stay calm. And sec..."_ The phone call was interrupted.

"...Nick?" Greg asked, but he wasn't on the line anymore. He tried to call him again, but he didn't answer. He had a bad feeling about this, and this time, he thought, he should listen to it. He decided to drive over to Nick and check if everything's alright. Julian was supposed to be at the lab, doing overtime, but Greg wanted to make sure he was there by calling Hodges. "Hey. Is Julian at the lab right now?"

_"Yeah, why?"_

Greg was relieved. "Okay, thanks." He hung up without explaining anything. Still, he decided to check on Nick.

He knocked at Nick's door and it opened. He didn't expect to see what he was about to.

* * *

><p>"Nick!" Greg ran over to him. Nick was lying on the floor, with bruises visible on his face. He was bleeding. "What happened?" Nick was coming in and out of consciousness and wasn't able to tell him what happened, but it wasn't necessary. He would find out soon enough.<p> 


	26. Chapter 26

_Hey there!_

_I wasn't sure if I should split this chapter, but I decided not to. Hope it doesn't take away from the tension you're hopefully feeling while reading this :) I hope you like this chapter!  
><em>

_Enjoy!_

* * *

><p>"Good, you came," Julian said from behind, closing the door.<p>

"...You did this to him?" Greg asked while bending over Nick, checking on his wounds.

"He asked for it." Julian walked up to them. He had a black eye and a bloody nose.

Greg took his cell phone out and started dialing 911.

"Don't you dare!" Julian yelled, running up to Greg and whipping the phone out of his hand, grabbing him on the shoulders.

"He needs medical attention!" Greg said desperately, trying to break free from Julian's grip. Please!"

Julian let go of Greg and started walking around the room nervously. He kept running his fingers through his hair and was shaking. "I didn't want to hurt him like that, Greg, I swear. He was supposed to be at work!"

"...How did you get in here?"

"Oh please. Nick had his spare key in his locker." He laughed. "Not a smart move, Nick!" he said, looking at a still unconscious Nick.

"And what do you want here?" Greg said with desperation in his voice, trying to fight back tears. He was more worried about Nick than himself.

"I just wanted to borrow the key to your apartment!" Julian said as if it wasn't a completely lunatic thing to say. "He should be at work, why was he here?" he yelled aggressively towards Nick.

"He changed shift with Ray... What about you? Hodges claims you're at work. Does he know you're here?" Greg asked, not wanting to believe Hodges would do something like that.

Julian grinned. "No, I told him I wanted to get some donuts, but he would have to lie for me if he wanted some, too, when someone asks where I am... He's so naive, it's almost cute."

_Thank god, Hodges is not in on this_, Greg thought.

"I acted in self defense, you see?" Julian said as he pointed on his bruised face. Nick did throw a few punches at him, but only after Julian first attacked him, of course. "He came at me. It's his fault."

Greg nodded. He knew it would be best not to upset Julian right now. _Just agree with him, no matter what he says,_ he thought.

* * *

><p>"Let's get both of you some medical attention, alright? I'm sure your bruised eye hurts, too, right?" Greg said, slowly walking towards the cordless phone.<p>

Julian nodded. "I think he broke my nose."

_Good,_ Greg thought. "How about I call an ambulance for the both of you?" He picked up the cordless phone. "Okay? Don't worry, we'll figure this out. Everything's going to be fine..."

"Give me the phone." Julian walked up to Greg and reached his hand out for him to hand him the phone.

"Please, Julian..." Greg said helplessly.

"The phone. Give it to me." He came a step closer and Greg handed it to him reluctantly. "Now sit down on the couch."

Greg did. He was sitting a few feet away from Nick now, but kept his eyes on him. "What now?" he asked fearful.

"I need to think about this..." Julian started walking up and down the room again. He was really nervous and had no idea what to do. Greg noticed that Julian was shaking. He didn't look too good.

As Julian's cell phone rang, Nick was slowly regaining consciousness again, but didn't move. He had his eyes open now, which Greg thought was a good sign, but he kept lying on the floor. Greg wasn't sure if this meant he wasn't able to get up, or didn't want to. Either way, he thought it was best for Nick to stay down.

"Aren't you going to answer that?" Greg asked when Julian let the phone ring.

"Shut up! I need to think now."

"Julian, what the hell are we doing here? Come on, let us go. We won't tell anyone, I swear."

He laughed. "Yeah right you won't. The second I let you walk out of here I'll get arrested for something I didn't even do!"

"You did attack Nick..." Greg said quietly. He knew it was stupid to say something like that, but he just couldn't resist. He was too angry.

Julian threw the cordless phone at Greg, almost hitting him on the head with it, but he dodged quick enough. Julian had a shocked look on his face. "Greg... I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to... I don't want to hurt you! Why do I keep doing this?"

Greg looked confused. Julian had no problem kicking the hell out of these three men that tried to rob him and Greg. He had no problem beating Nick, either. But he apologized for almost hurting Greg? "You don't want to hurt me?"

"Of course not!"

"Do you really think it's not hurting me when I see Nick like that? When I see what you're capable of?" He shook his head. "That's worse than any physical pain you could ever inflict."

Tears started rolling down Julian's cheeks. "I didn't mean to... I just wanted... You! I love you, and all you do is waste your time on Nick!"

"You don't love me."

"Of course I do!" Julian yelled angrily.

"It's obsession, not love! If you'd really love me you'd never do something like that!"

"I DO love you!" Julian walked up to him. "That's why I'm doing this! I can't stand the thought of being apart from you!"

Greg laughed humorlessly. "You're obsessed with me, you're not in love. You probably don't even know what it feels like to love somebody."

Greg was right, and Julian knew that. He didn't want to admit it, but deep down, he knew. He was a narcissist who wasn't able to feel love for anybody else but himself. "SHUT UP!" he yelled as he punched Greg with his fist. As he saw Greg lying on the couch, putting his hand on the spot Julian's fist hit him at, he immediately calmed down. "I'm so sorry..." He sat down on the couch next to Greg.

If he would be able to, he'd scoot over, trying to get as far away from Julian as possible. But Julian struck him quite hard, he was dizzy.

"You know..." Julian started stroking Greg's face. "You don't believe me, fine. But I really love you. Maybe there's a way to show you..." He grabbed Greg's arms and pulled him close to him.

"No..." Greg said, trying to push him back. But due to the hit he just received, he was too weak to be successful at his attempt. Julian kissed him.

* * *

><p>The dizziness slowly stopped and Greg was finally able to push Julian away.<p>

"Julian, please... Let me get help for Nick. You can leave, I don't care. I'll make up a story about how Nick got hurt, nobody will know about this, alright? And tomorrow in the lab, we'll act like nothing happened." Greg's cell phone rang. "I'll answer my phone now, okay?" He slowly walked over to where the phone was lying after Julian whipped it out of Greg's hand.

"I have a better idea..." He got up and walked over to the kitchen, pulling out a knife from a drawer.

"Don't hurt him..." Greg wanted to get over to Nick and protect him, but he would have to walk pass Julian, first.

"I don't want to hurt him, Greg... But I will..."

"No!" Greg walked up to Julian, but kept a distance. While he was trying to convince Julian not to hurt Nick, Nick slowly stood up. As Greg noticed this, he tried to keep Julian focused on him. "I'll do everything, just don't hurt him, please..." he said as Nick got his gun from the side table next to the door.

Greg took a few steps back, looking at Nick, who was now standing behind Julian, pointing the gun at him.

"Put the knife down and get your hands up..." Nick said weakly.

"I knew I should've hit you harder..." Julian said with a smirk. He didn't throw the knife away or put his hands up.

"Julian, please do what he says..." Greg said, trying to convince him to give up.

"You'd really shoot me? Is that how you want this to end?" he asked Nick as he turned around to face him.

Both Julian and Greg noticed that Nick wasn't feeling too good right now. He was wobbling and having a hard time keeping his eyes open.

"Don't you dare!" Greg said aggressively as he noticed Julian trying to get closer to Nick. He walked over to Nick, took the gun out of his hand and pointed it at Julian.

Julian laughed. "You're going to shoot me? Right... Remember what you told me about killing someone? You don't want to do this."

"Of course not!" Greg said. His hands were shaking a bit. "But sometimes we have to do things we don't want to do. Wouldn't be the first time."

"Of course, I heard about it. What did this make you feel like? Do you want to go through it again?" Julian slowly came closer.

"One more step and I'll do it!" Greg took a step back. He really didn't want to kill Julian, but he knew he might have to. And he was scared even thinking about it.

Julian took another step, grinning provocatively. "See? You just can't do it. You're not a killer..." He walked up to Nick and Greg, still the knife in his hand, when he suddenly felt a bullet piercing through his body. He went down.


	27. Chapter 27

Here's the next chapter!

I'm still thinking about whether or not this is the last one and the aftermath is going to be discussed in the next story or if I'll add another chapter or two. Which way would you prefer?

And now enjoy!

* * *

><p>Greg was sitting in the hospital waiting room. His clothes were stained with Julian's blood and he was putting ice on his cheek, where Julian hit him earlier. He was waiting for Nick, who was still with the doctor. Since he's been unconscious for several minutes, the doctors wanted to give him a full check-up, see if he had any internal bleedings or anything else serious.<p>

Brass was the first to arrive at the hospital. Greg called him and Catherine immediately after he took down Julian with a shot, using Nick's gun.

Brass sat down next to Greg. "Are you alright?"

Greg nodded. "Nick's still with the doctor. I hope he's fine..."

"What about Julian?"

"The bullet hit his arm, he'll be fine..." Greg looked down on the ground.

"His arm? You took a great risk aiming at his arm. You're lucky you didn't miss him."

Greg rolled his eyes while giving Brass an uncomfortable smile. "Actually, I was aiming for his chest."

"Well then... I guess Julian was lucky you're a bad shooter," Brass said smiling.

Not only Julian was lucky, Greg thought. He was glad he didn't kill him. Making the decision of aiming at his chest, instead of his arms or legs – which would be a risk, since it's much easier to hit the chest – was a tough one to make, but Greg knew it was the only right way to do it. He had to protect Nick and himself,

Catherine came in, followed by Sara. Both gave Greg a hug.

"Why didn't you tell us about Julian's obsession?" Catherine asked both angry and worried.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize he was dangerous until today..."

"I knew something was wrong, but... I'm so sorry, I should've done something..." she said.

"It's not your fault..."

At the same moment, a doctor came in. He told them about Nick's and Julian's condition.

Nick didn't have any internal bleedings, but a mild concussion, as well as several bruises on his face and body. Julian roughed him up pretty good.

Julian had bruises on his face, too. Nick fought back. He didn't break his nose, though, like Julian thought. But Greg shot him in the right arm. He was going to be fine, but he wanted to talk to Greg.

"Let's just get Nick and leave. You don't have to talk to him," Sara said. She didn't think it was a good idea for Greg to be confronted with Julian again just yet.

"No, I need to..." He stood up.

* * *

><p>Julian was lying in the hospital bed with handcuffs on. He wasn't connected to a heart monitor or anything like that. He was fine, he just had a gunshot wound on his arm. A flesh wound. Nothing that could kill him. "You actually came..." he said surprised as he saw Greg walk in.<p>

Greg nodded. "I wanted to make sure you're going to be alright..."

"I can't believe you shot me."

"You kind of asked for it, don't you think?" The whole situation felt kind of surreal to Greg. Here he was, in a hospital room, talking to Julian like he usually did. He didn't know how to behave towards him now. Angry? Disappointed? But he wasn't. He didn't feel anything. He was just glad it was over.

Julian laughed humorlessly. "Yeah but I thought I was sure you wouldn't be able to do it."

"You look better now..." Greg said. "Earlier, you... I don't know, you looked different."

Julian nodded. "They gave me my old medication."

"Medication?"

Julian nodded. He tried to explain to Greg that he was taking medication for his personality disorder, and trying a different kind in the last weeks. He said he also took them before he went over to Nick's. Although this was the truth, it wasn't the reason for Julian's weird behavior. He did take drugs for his disorder, and he also was prescribed new drugs, but they didn't cause his behavior. He knew that the fact that he was under the influence of these drugs would help him in court later, though. He would also later profit from the fact that the CSIs never found out that it was actually Julian who manipulated Nick's car, in hopes of hurting him. He also wouldn't have minded killing him. He didn't plan to risk Greg's life, though.

This explanation helped Greg feel a little bit of sympathy for Julian. Although not true, he thought this was the explanation for his aggressive behavior and all the weird things that happened. He wasn't sure if this changed anything, though. "Well..." He stood up. "I'm glad you're better now." He turned around to leave the room.

"Greg, wait." As Greg turned around again, Julian continued. "I'm sorry... For everything. I hope you can forgive me one day."

Greg gave him a faint smile as he walked out.


	28. Chapter 28

Hey guys!

I decided to end the story with chapter 27 (wow, I think that's my longest story so far!) and start a new story with the aftermath.

You can find my new story, Acquittance, on my profile page, but to make it easier for you to keep track here's a link to the story.

**.net/s/7138872/1/Acquittance** (just put the fanfiction-url in front of it, I can't publish it that way, I'm sorry!)

**THANK YOU** for reading, reviewing and hopefully loving my stories. Big Love,

pikapikatchu


	29. Chapter 29

Hey guys!

One of my readers, NeCos, made illustrations for this story. She gave us a good visual of Julian (with my description, I totally forgot to describe him in the story, I added it for future reads, though :) ).

Anyways, NeCos is very talented and I just needed you guys to see this!

Here's the link: necos69(dot)deviantart(dot)com/ (change the (dot) to a . and you're good to go!)

For all my Japanese fans: She even translated the story to Japanese! You can contact her if you'd like to read it. .net/u/2413320/NeCos (just add the fanfiction to make the link work)

Again, thanks for reading and reviewing my stories, it means so much to me :)

And BIG thanks again to NeCos, your work is awesome!


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